Back Again
by DEFiiANCE
Summary: Gwen Cooper left Torchwood 19 years ago ... taking one passport and retcon pill with her. Now she's back to infiltrate Torchwood as a secret agent, along with teen spy Alex Rider. Jack/Gwen Tosh/Owen
1. Prologue

_I've had this idea since before Something Borrowed when I was rereading my Alex Rider books (I'd run out of reading material) and it was just BUGGING me! :D  
So, here you are. Hot off the press ... enjoy!_

**Prologue**

Two months. It took two months for his adventures with the Doctor to come reach their end. Two months for his team to spectacularly pull together … and fall apart without him.

He should have told them. Maybe if he had …

He'd returned to find Tosh and Owen finally aware of each others feelings, Ianto muddling on without him and Gwen … missing.

The arguments with a peeved off Owen, who'd been appointed unofficial leader, had lasted, it seemed, for hours:

"You should have stopped her!"

"You shouldn't have left!"

Tosh had eventually had the common decency to explain that they'd run a search to find a missing passport, a note to Rhys and a shoddy CCTV image that may or may not have been Gwen boarding a plane destined for a far away remote land.

He'd commented, too urgently, that they had to bring her back. Nobody had missed the look that had flitted across Ianto's face and he'd attempted, unsuccessfully, to cover it up with the fact that if she was going to walk out they had to retcon her first.

"No need - she's already done that for you. A couple of pills went missing the day she left."

His curses had echoed, without lapse, around the Hub for the next ten minutes; the remaining members of the Torchwood team had slunk out of his office as he damned the woman who'd made such an impact on his life and had then made the coherent decision to disappear out of it again. Didn't she want to remember him? It had only been two months. It couldn't have been that bad.

He'd missed her … the two months away had changed how he saw her, to be honest, how he saw his entire existence in Cardiff.

Apparently two months had changed how she saw him as well.

**Well ?? What do you think ?? Any ideas ??  
R&R please! :)**


	2. RIS

_Woohoo ... six reviews already ... Thanks a ton to PassionPoet, Embzy, starry-eyed-torchwood-lover, Perfect Pirate Captain, MythStar Black Dragon and Lyridium!  
One thing before I start - I don't know what the russian equalivent to MI6 is so RIS is the Russian Intelligence Service.  
Enjoy! :)_

**Chapter 1**

**MOSCOW, RUSSIA**

**12****th**** JANUARY 2019 **

Gwen Cooper had aged well, although she was fast approaching her forty-third birthday, her black mane of hair was untainted with the tell tale streaks of grey, her green eyes retained the same old sparkle and she was able to still walk with a spring in her step. This in itself was an achievement as working for the RIS you encountered encounters that many people wouldn't have the guts to handle. Yet Gwen was one of the only people that found themselves, in the main, unaffected by the line of work she'd pursued. It was as though she'd built an 'immune system' (said some of her co-workers); it was as though she'd seen something much worse, something that couldn't be compared to anything that they dealt with.

The room she was sat in was sparsely decorated: a pot plant stood in one corner, posters adorned the wall, attempting to make the office more welcoming and a vast desk, littered with papers, letters and computer monitors took up the majority of the space.

Gwen sat on one side of the desk, while a plump balding man dressed in combats and a tight jumper that wouldn't look out of place on a young woman sat in a larger and comfier chair on the other. He began speaking fluently in Russian to a multilingual Gwen.

"Gwyneth Peters. Mother to Alex Peters. Born in Moscow. Moved to Wales when you were three months old. Parents died in a car crash when you were two. Raised by your mother's welsh parents in Tenby. Got married when you were twenty-six. Husband, James Peters left you when you were pregnant for a gorgeous eighteen year old. Recently mov ..."

"Valera?" Gwen spoke for the first time since she'd entered the boiling heat of the office twenty minutes ago. He stopped his obviously rehearsed speech and looked across at Gwen. "What are you saying?" Valera merely looked befuddled at the loose question. "About the gorgeous teenager? What are you insinuating?"

"Shut up Cooper." His voice remained, with years of practice, indifferent and aloft but his lips twitched upwards a fraction. "As I was saying ... you recently moved to Cardiff with fourteen years old Alex because you needed a fresh start after your grandmother FINALLY died of old age."

Gwen tilted her head slightly to acknowledge his ending.

"I know the protocol – the files will go into more details, read them on the plane. Just tell me what the hell I'm supposed to be doing."

"The English won't be happy about this so you've got to remain undercover. We're investigating someone, well three people actually – Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper and Martha Jones. The explosion that was all hushed up a couple of months back? They come marching into our country and blow half of it up! Well, I want to know who they work for, what they do, who they are. Now, I've got some contacts at MI6 who know a kid, Alex Rider who works for them on occasion. He'll strengthen your story."

"Where is Alex? Why the hell do MI6 have a kid working for them?"

"Doesn't matter. But he'll get you in. He's a Londoner so he hasn't got a welsh accent ... and he fails miserably trying to do one. He does speak welsh though so you'll be covered there. To explain his accent, all his life he has been educated in London, staying with a friend of yours, Jack Starbright, who is in fact his guardian. Got it?"

"Sir."

"I don't need to tell you to be nice to the kid." It wasn't a question but Gwen answered anyway.

"No."

"This has taken months to organise Cooper. Don't mess it up."

"Sir." The friendliness from earlier had abruptly disappeared, leaving only a boss and his top secret agent having a professional briefing.

"You fly out tomorrow morning at 11am. You'll meet Alex outside the airport – he'll be holding a sign saying 'Mum' as though you've been away. A cab'll be waiting. He's one of my contacts and you'll be taken to your new home."

"Thanks sir."

"The files are with Mrs Tomanova. Pick them up on your way out."

Gwen shook his hand over the desk and turned to the door.

"до свидания Gwen Cooper."

"спасибо Valera Borshch."

"удача. Good luck." He repeated it the language of his country and then of hers.

"да." She turned on her heel and exited the office.

**Hi again! I took the russian from a phrase book so it could be a few dodgy spellings! Please don't hate me!  
You know the drill ... R&R Пожалуйста**


	3. Back Again

**_Bonjour! SATs in under a week ... eeekkk! :S  
Sorry this has taken a bit - as I explained to WakkaxTidus & Embzy, it wouldn't upload! :)_**

**  
**

She hadn't travelled along the route of the plane she was seated on since eleven years ago. The only differences were the fact that then she'd been crammed into economy class and this time she could remember why she had left the country.

Gwen closed her eyes.

_She'd woken from a sleep clutching a napkin with a scrawl on that she recognised as her own. Slightly confused as to why she was on a plane crossing Europe she glanced down and began reading._

_'I'm about to erase the past 13 months from my memories. The things that happened you're better off not remembering. You've split with Rhys. You left your police job 13 months ago. You don't want to remember. You want to start a new life away from everything. You're moving to Russia – it's a big country, full of opportunities. You shouldn't remember. Trust yourself on this one.'_

_The man seated next to her was gave her a funny look. _

_"Are you alright?" he asked tentatively._

_She inconspicuously slipped the napkin into her pocket and quickly thought of a cover story. _

_"I dunno." She added a tremble to her voice. "I had a headache. I can't remember anything."_

_The man caught hold of her wrist. "You alright? What do you mean? What can't you remember?"_

_"I ..." She was too good at lying, she'd always been a hopeless liar, when had that changed? "I ... today ... I remember getting up but ..."_

_"Sshhh, just sit there and I'll get you a drink of water."_

_She placed her head against the window, acting bemused and disorientated._

_"Sorry ... do you mind moving a minute please?" She looked around to see the elderly woman in the aisle being turfed out of her chair to allow room for the man and a hostess to move towards her._

_At the airport she'd was escorted off, her bags collected for her and taken to hospital for a quick check up. The foreign language confused her, lessening the need to act. Lucky for her a man – Valera Borshch was in A&E with a colleague and offered to be a translator. She'd confessed about the note on the napkin and he'd, for a reason unknown to either of them, offered her a job opportunity._

In the eleven years since she had never uncovered a smidgen of information about her missing year. She'd slowly worked her way through the training and up the many ranks of RIS, helped by her friend Valera. She loved him with all her heart but not in a romantic way. She'd miss him while she was away.

Moscow was her home now and she didn't what to stay away for too long. She'd find this Toshiko, Owen and Martha, get what she needed to get and come home.

Easy.

**...  
**

Unusually for Cardiff it was sunny. As soon as she stepped through the airplane door, it hit her face like an unexpected bolt of lightning. Looking down at her everyday clothes for home she realised she'd soon be sweating like a pig. Her boots, long coat, many layers, hat, scarf and gloves were strictly unnecessary.

"Shit." She grumbled under her breath, subconsciously slipping into English, as she was squeezed into a bus with her fellow passengers. It was already boiling in here – she was going to burn to death on a bus full of strangers in a foreign(ish) country. She shoved her gloves off and tried to sling her bag off her shoulder to slip them in.

"OUCH!"

"Shit. Sorry mate." She turned to look at the man behind her. "О мой бог!" The people around them were beginning to stare.

"Oh my god! Just pinch your nose. Pinch it. I'm so sorry mate!"

"It's fine, fine. You got a tissue?"

She slung her bag off her shoulder again, only to hit another man who'd moved to help the bleeding stranger in the stomach.

"OOOOFFFF!"

The bus pulled to a stop outside the terminal doors. Gwen shot a final apologetic look at the pair and shot out of the bus in front of everyone else. Throughout the queues in customs she kept her distance from a crowd of fuming fliers who had either been hit or had blood splattered on them that kept on glancing angrily towards her. Armed assassins and enemy agents she could handle, but after a four hour trip that had taken them back to lunchtime she really couldn't be bothered.

Her suitcase was easily spotted by her trained eyes and she scooted past the chattering, moaning or silent passengers after heaving it off the luggage roundabout, heading doggedly for the exit.

Turning around before she went round the corner she saw the bloodied man arguing with a woman with blood on her white blouse and smiled grimly to herself.

Brilliant start Cooper.

"MUM!" She'd hardly turned the corner when a slim teenage boy ran over to her and enveloped her in a hug, causing her to drop her bag with surprise.

"Adam!" When her brain finally realised who the strange boy was that was hugging her, she wrapped her arms around him too. "My god, I've missed you." She spoke aloud and then dropped her voice so that she was whispering. "Alex? Nice to meet you. I'm Gwen Cooper. Nice acting!" She muttered it all very fast into his ear and then dropped her arms.

An elderly couple standing nearby smiled to themselves at the mother/son reunion. Gwen surveyed Alex for a moment. Brown hair, slight but muscular build, green eyes and a handsome face. His eyes shocked her for a second – they held the knowledge of a much older person, he'd seen far too much for his fourteen years. How could MI6 manipulate a child into doing their dirty work?

"C'mon Mum. There's a cab waiting." He grabbed her suitcase and winced as he felt its weight. "Blimey bill! What have you got in here? Smuggled back a sexy Russian girl in there for me?"

Gwen smiled for a second, quickly replacing it however with a frown. "Watch it you. That's school talk, not talk with your mum."

Alex turned and shot her a typical teenage 'I don't care' look, heading out of the cool interior of the airport back into the warm sun of Cardiff. It wasn't all that hot really, but after spending her last three months in a minus fifteen climate, it could have been a beach in the Bahamas.

Once inside the cab Alex turned to Gwen. "Hi Gwen. I'm Alex Rider, or Adam Peters. This is Wolf," he motioned to the man driving, "Welcome back to the UK."

"Cheers Alex. How far's the house?"

"It's right down the centre of Cardiff. Lush apartment. The ex owners put it on the market a fortnight ago and we snapped it up. It's not completely empty yet – they only had a couple of days to pack 'cos we said we wanted to move in straight away. There's a few boxes lying around but they'll pick them up later during the week."

"Ace. But how far's the house Alex?"

"Oh, it's about fifteen minutes. Why?"

"I really need to use the loo."

**...  
**

The apartment was beautiful – an open plan living room / kitchen / diner, three bedrooms and a Jacuzzi in the bathroom. Her salary had always been high in RIS but this ... this really took the biscuit. One wall in the living room consisted solely of three humungous windows stretching from the ceiling to the floor. The furniture was modern and minimalist, the kitchen was a work of art and the master bedroom – her bedroom – had an ensuite and fantastic views of the centre of Wales; she could see the millennium Centre, the town centre. Alex had already claimed the middle bedroom and had thrown his bags haphazardly inside.

"Adam?"

"Yeah."

"Have you put your stuff away?"

"Um ..."

"Do it please."

"You're worse than Jack."

"Can you iron?"

"Not if I can help it."

"Well then put your clothes away because I won't be the one standing there and ironing them all."

Alex sighed heavily, defeated, and headed towards his bedroom. Meanwhile Gwen poked her head into the guest room. It was small but brightly decorated and had obviously been a child's room. It was Gwen's turn to sigh – she'd always wanted kids but her job had never allowed it. She supposed Alex was the closest the she would ever get to a mum: at 42, her body clock was ticking.

She shook away the negative thoughts and left the room.

"Alex. What do you want for tea?"

"Nothing's stocked."

"Damn it." She changed her tack. "McDonalds?"

"You offering?"

"Yep – there's one down by the Millennium Centre, if it hasn't moved."

Alex shot out of his room with a denim jacket in his hands. "I haven't eaten for ages." He explained his enthusiasm. "Wolf decided to play it funny and take me to the airport three hours early ... with no money."

"Don't you carry ...?"

"It was in my bag." Gwen smiled slightly. They'd hardly known each other two hours but, if they could keep up the talking like they were, they could easily pass for mother and son.

They passed the several cardboards heaped by the door and leant on them as they slipped on their trainers. It always helped to be able to run if you worked for MI6 or RIS. Gwen turned away the pick up her keys and a resounding crash echoed through the apartment.

She whipped around, alarmed, teetering on the edge of pulling out her gun but stopped when, just behind her, she found the source of the commotion. Alex stood looking sheepish next to a crumpled box and several photo frames, broken chards of crockery and other fragile materials that were rolling around on the floor.

She swore. "Adam!" Adam stood there still. "You okay?"

"Can you pass me my trainers please?" She looked down. Glass was shimmering in the light around Alex's shoeless feet. She threw them over to him. Bending down to pick one up, he suddenly stopped, his eyes fixated on a photo, a triumphant yet confused look upon his face.

"I found them."

"What?" She attempted to look at the picture but Alex snatched it away and held it up into the light. His look turned furious and he threw down the frame and tackled her to the ground.

"With you in the photo too."

"What? Alex let me up. I haven't even heard of their names before in my life."

"Really." His voice held an incredible amount of venom for a fourteen year old. Maybe this was what being shoved into the field when you barely qualified for a teenager did to you. "When did you start double crossing? Are you planning to blow up Wales as well?"

"Alex. Show me the photo." Keeping her pinned to the floor, he reached over to retrieve the fallen photo, wrenching it out of the frame before holding it in front of her face.

The photo must have been taken a while back – the image was fading and was much worse quality than the photos they had now. The five people in it were obviously just friends, not family and looking closer, she recognised three of the people in it: herself, Toshiko Sato and Owen Harper. She had this odd feeling, a gut instinct build up inside her.

_She had provided the idea and camera for the photo._

She was stood on the end of the five, with Owen Harper next to her. Toshiko Sato was stood on his other side, looking towards him with an indignant expression on her face. Harper was looking pleased with himself and she was laughing at something.

_Owen Harper had made a comment about Toshiko Sato's ... what was it? ... apparent disregard for the use of sunglasses._

She looked closer. Sure enough, everyone except Toshiko and another man stood next to her with a long military coat on had on sunglasses. The man in the coat must have been boiling – everyone else (apart from the final man on the end who was in a suit) was in shorts, skirts and light tops. She looked again. Owen Harper had his arm draped casually around her shoulders and she was returning the favour. His other arm had snaked its way round Toshiko's waist.

_Toshiko had blushed when he'd done that. Were Toshiko and Owen together? No – Toshiko had loved Owen but Owen was too busy shagging every other girl in Cardiff to notice Toshiko._

She closed her eyes. How did she know this all?

"Torchwood." Alex's voice interrupted her train of thought. "Who the hell is Torchwood? Gwen?"

"I don't know. Alex ..."

"2008. 11 years ago. How did you know them?"

"2008 is my missing year."

"What?"

It took three quarters of an hour to explain but when she'd done Alex let her up and apologized.

"Can I?" He passed her the photo. She flipped it over. Written on the back in a bright red pen was the words:

**_Torchwood 2008  
_****_Jack, Tosh, Owen, Ianto & Gwen_**

It was her writing. She looked again at the photo.

_The man in the coat was Jack._

Looking into Jack's frozen face she felt a pang of longing. Blue eyes, that smile. Had she liked him?

Yes, but he was seeing Ianto.

A strangled sob escaped her throat. She never cried over something like memories. Except, the prospect of finally finding her missing year was a tad overbearing.

Alex stood from his position packing the escaped items back into the box and prised the photo from her hands. She gently reached out and took it back. "I keep the photo." She spoke with such conviction and firmness that he could only stand there as she tucked it into her over the shoulder bag. "McDonalds?"

Alex started at the abrupt change of subject. "Sure."

**_Right, hope that filled in a few gaps!  
R&R please! Ta :D_**


	4. Change

**Thanks a bundle to ...** _GossipGirl17,_ _starry-eyed-torchwood-lover, MythStar Black Dragon, bad2wolf2mcgee, Cassandra S. Fisher, Perfect Pirate Captain, Embzy, Lady Clark-Weasley of Books and tvnut89!  
See Daryl! These kind people actually READ AND REVIEWED! :'(_

_**My Recommendations ... **OK. Soo ... my first ever recommendations! There's a BRILLIANT one-shot tribute to Tosh and Owen out there by vega rin. Called 'Dandelions in Your Backyard.' It made me cry and laugh and squee in one chapter! Also, try 'Those Younger Days' by elmo-doodle. It's great - had me squeeeing (again) and laughing my silly little head off. AND, you've probably already read it if the number of reviews are anything to go by but try 'Out Of Their Minds' by kateq123. I was wetting myself over and over again._

_Woohoo! SATS nd my french oral exam are over! :D YES!!  
So ... in celebration of no more revision I wrote this chap!  
I'm SO excited!  
18 days 'til the russians (Vlada!) come to visit and 20 days to my birthday!! Anyone who reviews gets a BIG slice of birthday cake! ;D_

**Chapter 3**

The cog door opened and Jack stepped inside, covered in blood and carrying a weevil in his arms. Owen trailed behind him sporting a nasty wound to the head.

"Martha!" bellowed Jack, "Stitch up Owen's head. Rhys, take this weevil down to the vaults."

"What's its name?" Martha laughed as Jack passed her as she made her way to the autopsy bay.

"Rebecca."

Tosh and Owen made their way to the autopsy bay more slowly, on the account that Tosh was supporting Owen in cause he fainted because of his blood loss.

"Bloody weevil. We got there and there were five of the damn things! You could have warned us, Tosh. Five weevils on two humans. Jack went and bleeding well copped it three times. When he came back for the third time I think they got a bit freaked and legged it into the sewers again."

"Hey! If they didn't have a heat signature I can't ..."

"Shut up you two." Martha grinned as she helped Owen up onto the bed.

Tosh turned and made her way back to her desk as Martha skilfully and painlessly stitched the gash and Owen grabbed a towel and began wiping the blood off his face.

"There you go."

"Cheers Martha."

He jumped off the bed and bestowed a brief smile onto Martha before heading towards Tosh's desk. He grinned. She was engrossed in the translation of an ancient script that had been found by the police earlier that week and had been given to them by Rhys' mate Andy. He crept up behind her and whispered into her ear.

"Boo!" As expected Tosh jumped a foot off her chair and hit Owen has he picked her up and easily swung her off her chair. He sat himself down on it and then laughed quietly as Tosh seated herself in his lap. Her engagement ring, a single diamond, caught the light. However, she was once again staring at the screens.

"Owen! You deleted the translation you bloody idiot. I spent the last two hours working on them and now you've come along and bloody deleted it all." She twisted in his lap and hit him again, this time hard. "Stop bloody grinning! Two hours and then some bloody fool ..."

Owen did the only thing possible at times like that to shut her up – kiss her. His lips collided with hers and she sighed into his mouth before deepening the kiss. She placed her arms around his neck as they broke apart for a second.

"Oi! Get a room!" Rhys called as he emerged up the steps from the vault. Gwen's ex had lost the excess fat and had become much fitter since he'd joined Torchwood 5 months after Gwen's disappearance. Jack had said he'd asked him to join because he'd shown himself to be capable of Torchwood material but Rhys knew the real reason was that they had a job vacancy and as he already knew about Torchwood, already knew them all, it wouldn't screw up his team that much. He liked to think he'd proved himself well though.

Owen laughed as Rhys sat down at his desk and Tosh, although more confident by far, turned away from Owen and looked back at her screen.

She gasped.

"Tosh?" Owen felt her tense on his lap.

"Gwen." She muttered.

Alarmed, Owen looked at the screen which had automatically reverted back to the CCTV camera image of outside the Hub when he'd deleted the translation. A woman and a teenage boy were walking past the Hub. Everywhere else was deserted – it was 10 o'clock at night. Tosh zoomed in on the pair.

"Shit." Rhys, wondering about the sudden silence had got up and wandered over to them.

The woman looked about thirty-five, with long black hair, chiselled cheeks and from what could be told by the dim lighting around the Hub, had sparkling green eyes. The boy was slim, also with green eyes, but their main focus attention was on their ex best friend, lover and fiancé.

"What's happened to her?" Tosh mused aloud, speaking everyone's thoughts for them. By this time Martha had also joined them and was staring, speechless, at the tiny image. Their Gwen had been confident, lively, energetic. This Gwen walked as though she had the world on her shoulders. As they watched the boy wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"Zoom in the kid." Rhys commanded and Tosh manoeuvred the camera focus onto the teenager. "She has a son." He stated it as a fact that didn't matter to him but his face told a different story.

Martha looked slightly confused at Rhys' assumption. "Can't be. The kid looks fourteen, fifteen about. She only left eleven years ago. Nephew maybe?"

"No – she was an only child. It has to be her son. Tosh, play the clip again." The real Gwen had disappeared from the cameras view but the recorded Gwen walked outside again. "Look. Green eyes, similar build, same look about him."

"Rhys ..." Martha spoke to calm him but Rhys slammed his fist into the desk anyway, scattering papers onto the floor. Unshed tears shone in his eyes. The other three were silent, averting their eyes. Cheeks burning at his loss of control, he turned and walked in the direction of the vaults.

Tosh started upwards to follow him but Owen held her back. "Give him time to think. He never did get over her – there were no goodbyes. That makes it a hundred times harder to let go." Tosh looked towards Owen, knowing he was thinking about Katie. Owen had confessed why he found it so hard to love a couple of months into their relationship and while he'd helped her become more confident, she had helped him become more open and less of a serial-shagger.

"We need to follow her." Martha spoke suddenly, cutting through the silence that had followed Owen's comment. "Tosh, can you track her on the CCTV?" Tosh grinned. "Owen, tell Jack you're leaving for some reason or other. I'll get the SUV."

"JACK!" Owen bellowed in the general direction of Jack's office. The girls winced slightly.

"OWEN!" Jack replied in kind.

"Tosh and I have got to go. Her mum said that she couldn't look after Evie and Yasmin late tonight; she's going out."

"Good for her."

"Jack?"

"Fine. Bugger off. Just make sure you don't decide to stagger in at midday tomorrow."

"When do we ever do that?"

"Whenever you think you can use the excuse that Evie wouldn't stop crying or Yasmin had nightmares."

Owen bestowed a two fingered salute to the captain and turned back to Tosh. "Ready."

"Yep. See you Jack."

As they left the tourist shop disguising the entrance to the Hub, Owen turned to Tosh. "Where is she?"

"She's heading to Kelvin Street.

_Rightio. You know what to do! As I said up there at the start a BIG slice of birthday for any reviewers! TTFN. x :)_


	5. McDonalds

_**Thanks a bundle to ...** MythStar Black Dragon, PassionPoet, Embzy, Section8grl, starry-eyed-torchwood-lover, Perfect Pirate Captain, tvnut89, GossipGirl17, Lady Clark-Weasley of Books, MistressJonesOfCardiff, anime.de and Diamondsshine4ever. Thank you ... you made my day!! :)_

_**PLEASE READ ...** Just to make this clear! In the first chapter I said that Alex's code name was 'Alex Peters'. But in chapter 2 I accidentally changed it to 'Adam Peters'. So now I'm sticking his code name as Adam. Just to make that clear._

_6 DAYS UNTIL VLADA COMES OVER!! :D_

**CHAPTER 4**

The SUV swung into the car park of the McDonalds in Kelvin Street, illuminating the road several metres away from it with the above average headlights.

"We could have walked." Owen complained again.

"You could have walked and we could have left you," retorted Tosh.

"How about ... I could have walked and left you two in the car to bicker among yourselves." Martha stopped the SUV and sprang out of the door with obvious relief. "Jesus Christ," she muttered under her breath to no one in particular.

Tosh stuck her head out of the window. "Martha! You can't just walk in there."

"I'm not just walking in there, alright? I'm getting fresh air."

"Martha!" Owen joined Tosh in the sticking your head out of the window club. "Why did you take the SUV?"

"What?" Martha turned towards him, with a bemused expression on her face.

Owen explained with a painful note in his voice, as though he was explaining something for the hundredth time to a very young and very stupid child. "As much as it pains me to say it, Jack isn't that stupid. Even he'd have noticed the SUV driving away with the three of us gone. He's probably on his way now."

"Thanks very much for that Owen. I always considered myself as relatively stupid but now I feel quite good about myself."

"Jack." Tosh broke the awkward silence first with the one syllable name of their very peeved boss who was standing in front of the SUV, assuming a very peeved off position – arms crossed, slight frown and set mouth.

"Tosh."

"Jack."

"Owen."

"Jack."

"Martha."

"Urm ..."

"Well? Explanation as to why you steal the SUV and disappear without telling anyone. What if there'd been an alert?"

Martha and Owen quailed under his fierce glare but Tosh, having worked with him the longest, stepped forwards and admitted "We've found Gwen."

...

The four had retreated back inside the SUV. Jack was sat in the front with Martha, while Tosh and Owen leant forward from the back seat to join in the heated conversation:

"We have to find out what she's saying." Tosh and Martha exchanged a glance. It was typical Jack. He was still so protective of her. It had been so obvious to them all; except to Jack and Gwen that was.

"We all want to find out we can't just all plonk ourselves down next to her, can we Jack?" Owen could argue for England when he wanted to.

"We're Torchwood." Tosh reminded her fiancé gently.

"Whose side are you actually on Tosh?" Owen whirled on her, his eyebrows knitted together in an infuriated scowl.

"Stop acting like a baby Owen." Martha chimed in with an exasperated sigh.

"Exactly." Jack saw and seized the ideal opportunity. "We're Torchwood. One of us goes in. Buys a burger. Sits on the next table and bugs them." Jack used the exact same patronising tone of voice that Owen had been using on Martha when Jack first put in his appearance.

Owen flopped backwards onto the seat, recognising the obvious defeat. "Fine." He agreed grudgingly.

"Brilliant." Before Martha could stop him, he threw open the door and weaved his way through the packed car park to a brightly lit entrance underneath the trademark 'M'.

...

Stood in the 11 person long queue, Jack's eyes swept over the heaving restaurant with a doleful expression upon his face. The place was packed full of hungry punters ; personally Jack couldn't understand their obsession with fast food but as always, he accepted it as one more of the many peculiar human traits. A few people paused to look up from their meals as his gaze scrutinized the area they were sat in and a few of the few widened their eyes slightly or shook their heads to themselves and their pig companions; personally they couldn't understand some peoples obsession with dressing oddly and as always, made their opinion known to the anomaly of society. Jack's search however had already moved onto the next batch of tables. The stares were nothing that he hadn't received before – he had been wearing the same coat for nearing a century now.

To his chagrin, by the time Jack had finally reached the front of the queue, his beady eyes had failed to pick out Gwen from the mass of brightly coloured chairs, Happy Meal boxes littering the floor and gaggle of customers that made up McDonalds.

"Cheeseburger please." It felt so odd ordering the burger – you simply didn't get food like that in Boeshane Peninsula.

Jack cast his mind back to the last time he'd bought such a repulsive food item. To his horror, he found the memory plucked from his lottery of recollections involved the very woman who was the reason that he was stood in the sweaty queue. It had been the day that Rhys had discovered the truth about 'Special Ops'. After Rhys and Gwen had left, the only thing they could all be bothered so he'd offered to buy everyone a meal. The overall vote had swung in favour of KFC so Jack had found himself being served on a night much like tonight when Rhys and Gwen had appeared through the doors. As Jack watched the man his Gwen would be willing to retcon herself for, Gwen herself had slipped up behind him. He'd smelt her first. The pink grapefruit shampoo mixed with the unmistakeable staining smell of blood and sweat – all the products of that day's toil. She'd caught his wrist to spin him around to face and, next thing he knew, she was hugging him tightly, desperately. Then she'd muttered "Thank you" into his ear as she squeezed his hand. The whole thing took under thirty seconds and he watched as she walked, unaffected, to the back of the queue, even pausing to wave at Rhys. She hadn't even spared him a half glance when he staggered past her a minute later, his arms full of Bargain Buckets and Diet Pepsi.

"Hey? Excuse me. Your burger." The man behind the counter waved his miniscule excuse of a cheeseburger in front of him.

"Right. Thanks." Jack snatched the burger away, earning an affronted glare from his server. That was another reason for not liking these places – nobody ever seemed to like him.

There was a small alcove hidden around the corner, protected from the bustle of the main restaurant, which was just big enough for three tables. Two were occupied whilst the middle table was being cleared by another spotty faced employee. Jack came around the corner just as the cleaner moved away.

His breath caught.

Sat on the left table, the furthest away from the window was Gwen (and the kid). He couldn't see her face; there wasn't much light cast over their table on the account of the bulb directly above them being blown or turned off and she was facing the other direction. However, it was obvious that she was Gwen from the moment that he turned the corner.

"Got her." The Torchwood side of his brain automatically snapped to work as he murmured into the comm, thankfully overruling the inevitable inclination to rush over there, grab her and kiss her so hard that she completely forgot about the past eleven years and remembered all the brilliant times they had together ... with the team, as a team (he furiously tried to convince his brain the opposite to what he knew was true).

Sidestepping a group of chattering young girls, he slid into the vacant seat, slamming his burger onto the table with uncalled for force. The girls paused in front of his table, raising their eyebrows as though to chastise him for stealing the table that they were obviously making a beeline for. Jack looked up at them, smiling his dazzling smile. The entire group blushed profusely and, embarrassed, turned away. He still had it ... still sex on legs.

As he turned back to unwrapping the burger, Jack snuck a peek at Gwen and the kid. They were still intent on their food, having seemingly not noticed that he'd arrived.

The burger was an adequate meal for Myfanwy only yet he wolfed it down 'hungrily' so as not to appear suspicious and draw attention as he would if pulled funny faces and retched it back up as he was resisting doing now. He should have bought a Tango to wash it down.

He stood up, reaching into his pocket, filtering through the multitude of bizarre items for his car keys. They slipped through his fingers before he could stop them, landing an inch from the kid's muddy trainer.

While he bent down to pick it up, Jack looked upwards at Gwen.

She was beautiful. She looked down at him, a faint smile gracing her features for the strange man who'd just happened to drop his car keys under her table. A few wrinkles around the eyes and several well defined frown lines had been added to the face that he knew so well. He emerald gaze met Jack's for two seconds until Jack smiled shyly (since when do I do shy?) and, using the table to push himself back to his feet, walked stiffly away.

He turned around briefly at the corner. Gwen had gone back to her meal and the kid hadn't even realised the unspoken exchange that had just occurred had ever occurred. Thank heaven for small mercies. He must be hungry to be so fixated on his food.

Back at the table, Gwen smiled a secret smile to herself. It wasn't uncommon for men at RIS to pay her compliments and they'd flirt outrageously with her almost every day. But that man had a strangely familiar smile.

...

Jack leant against the SUV, breathing in deep gulps of the cool night air. His heart was racing and if someone had checked when Gwen had looked down at him, he was positive that his heart would have stopped for the moment that they caught each other's glance. It had taken all of his will to just smile like he'd never seen her before in his life and walk away. Only one other woman had the power to transform him from Captain Jack Harkness to a flustered man with no self control but she was long dead.

His train of thought was broken by Martha throwing open the door he was leaning on and sending him flying into the side of the red ford next to the SUV.

"Oh my God! Sorry!" Martha yelled out of the car. Jack staggered forwards unsteadily and clambered awkwardly into the SUV, slamming the door behind him. He shot Martha a filthy glare and gingerly felt the back of his head. He winced. A lump already throbbed there. Broken bones and cuts would heal but bruises were the one injury he had to put up with.

Martha looked sheepish as she passed Jack an ice pack from the med kit that they kept permanently in the glove box. "Sorry Jack. I was coming to find you."

"Why were ..."

"Shut up!" Two irritated voices commanded from the back. Jack twisted to look at the back seats. Tosh and Owen were leant as close as was physically possible to their respective doors, both waving a frantic hand to shush them. It took Jack's dizzy mind several seconds to realise that they were leant towards their speakers, several seconds to realise a voice was issuing from the speakers and several seconds more to recognise the voice.

_Eleven years._

His mind cleared instantly and he threw the ice pack onto the dashboard to allow him to lean closer to his speaker.

"... enough? You haven't stopped complaining you were starving all day!"

"Mum! Calm down. I ..." The rest of the boy's, Gwen's son's, words were lost amid the flurry of noise inside the SUV. Martha gasped, Owen slammed his fist into the seat beside him, swearing colourfully once while Tosh closed her eyes in resignation and reached out to gently lay her hand on Jack's shoulder. Although they all felt their boss' pain for him, it had been Tosh who had tried to talk to Jack when she first left. Even though 'try' was the operative word, she was still the one who understood the most about Jack's pain due to her own relationship experiences. For Jack however, it took a few moments for the kid's words to sink in and when they did his expression and stance didn't change.

_Mum. Gwen had a son. Yeah. That was ... brilliant. She'd been happy. Had a family. Loved someone then. Yeah ... that was just ... good for her._

"Seriously Adam. I was gone for two months and come back to find that you look as though you haven't been eating!"

_Gone where?_

"Well maybe ... I've been working out. Just being healthy."

_The kid didn't sound welsh._

Gwen didn't reply, simply opting for a snort of laughter. "How was Russia then?" Adam _(was that his name?) _inquired in an evasive tone of voice.

Jack grinned. _That was so like Gwen. The way she used to be so stubborn about anything she wanted to know but if you asked her anything that she didn't want to reveal, she'd seamlessly change the subject to something totally unrelated._ Jack grinned again. _Once she'd been so insistent about a case that he'd kissed her just shut her up ... the feel of his lips pressed forcefully against hers ... the way she'd kissed him back as though he was her lifeline._

He'd missed the last few words.

"... brilliant. I got more bruises from sliding than I did in that sponsored rugby match!"

Adam laughed. "Wish I could have come."

_Russia. She'd been to Russia. But by the sounds of it, only for a work conference or group holiday. It sounded like Gwen and her son had been in Wales for the entire time. Was it possible that she'd been so tantalizingly close for so long?_

"So do I." The sound of rustling and a low wolf whistle followed her words.

"What?"

"It's 11:30! You've got school tomorrow and I don't want you falling asleep in class on your first day!"

_So they'd only just moved here._

"What about the second day?" The kid laughed, presumably at his mother's reaction. "And we've got to tidy up that glass from the photo. Don't see why the old owners couldn't have just taken all their stuff with them when they moved instead of leaving a load of boxes all over our hall. Eight dirty great ..." The kid stopped suddenly.

"What's wrong?" asked Gwen sharply.

The kid answered in a hushed tone, as though someone might overhear him in the rabble of McDonalds. "If there was that photo, do you think there'd be more? One box had baby stuff in, one had little trinkets and crockery and then all the others could have had photo albums or old diaries or home videos."

Several things happened at once.

Inside the restaurant, Gwen exclaimed "Jack!"

"Jack?"

"Jack from the photo." Horror crept into her voice. "He was in here. He was bloody well sat behind us!"

The sound of chairs being thrown backwards filled the SUV just as Owen turned to Tosh, both with horrified expressions on their faces.

"I think that was our flat." whispered Tosh, uncertainly explaining their shocked faces.

A ghastly silence filled every corner of the car, even the noise from the speakers fading to a distant background murmur as Gwen and Adam ran towards the doors that Gwen had watched Jack leave through.

Owen spoke into the silence, summing up everyone's thoughts in one word:

"Shit."

_WOOHOO! I'm hyper! :P  
You like??  
Reviewers get a chocolate chip cookie that me, Renee and Sam made!! :)_


	6. Warehouses

_Hey again! I would like to apologise to the people who have emailed me about this but I think I've kept to what I said! (You know what I mean.)  
Aussi, this story had led to a dead end but now ... I have ideas again :D And time :) This is short but I've already started chap six (I know, shock horror). So enjoy!_

**CHAPTER 5**

**Tuesday ...**

**Wednesday ...**

The clock on Jack's desk chimed midnight, sending a lonely call echoing around the Hub.

**Thursday ...**

The workstations were dormant and sleeping, expect for the odd screen shining into the semi darkness, depicting the ever running rift detector programme. An inescapable grinding noise became the next thing to disturb the silence in the Hub.

Jack hurried out of the cog door, his greatcoat wafting out behind him. His manner of walking and the strength and confidence of his stride gave the impression that he had an extremely important job to take care of but, in reality, for once in his incredibly long life, Jack was acting on a memory, or rather on a whim conjured up by a memory.

Memories seemed to playing a big part in his life recently, he reflected miserably as he climbed into the SUV once more during that night ... sorry, for the first time that day.

Since he'd seen Gwen in McDonalds, he'd been in zombie mode. Captain Jack Harkness seldom did zombie mode. The last time he'd been in a state like that was in 1941 when he came home from leave to find his wife and their seven month old daughter who he'd never met had died a week before by a bomb when the house was hit.

He started the engine, revving it several times in frustration.

It wasn't zombie mode, he clarified, asserting the exact meaning to his current state of mind yet again. He was simply deciding his next course of action in the Gwen plan. She was his drug and, like before, he was hooked on her. Only this time around he'd been previously convicted of being a 'Gwennie' and now the drug was illegal and the police were monitoring him constantly in case of a relapse.

'Not a relapse. It can't be a relapse if you never got over her.' An unwelcome part of his brain leered in his air.

He swerved the car onto the main road.

Tosh thought something was wrong. That much was easy to see. Owen obviously shared Tosh's opinion but hid his feelings as always. Rhys was ... Rhys. He couldn't hide the hurt and betrayal that he felt about Gwen but when it came to hiding his feelings about Jack's involvement with her, even Jack couldn't tell what he was thinking and he'd had years to practice reading people's expressions and body language. Martha was worried about Jack's sanity if her constant checking if he was alright and bringing him coffees were anything to go by.

He stopped the car by an old warehouse, surrounded by a mass of gigantic buildings that radiated 'Big Boy's Mechano Set of Corrugated Steel', and reversed into a space marked with two letters in flaking red paint – TW. An owl veered gracefully overhead hooting. It was the only living creature in this maze of steel and fake yellow light shining dully from the metal lampposts. He hated coming here; it usually meant that someone had died.

The rain drizzled down the back of his neck, causing him to shiver unpleasantly. There was another reason he hated coming to this secluded complex of buildings – it nearly always rained here.

He walked sedately to the shelter of the door. His key fob left his pocket and, as soon as the key entered the lock, a 10cmx10cm sheet of steel slid upwards noisily to reveal a number pad.

He loved this part of it – it was so _James Bond._

_4 8 5 3 2 2 9 0 1. _He hadn't had to come here for one year, four months and seventeen days if he remembered correctly. The last time had been when Paddy and Sarah died.

The door grated sideways into the wall. He could have just gone straight through the garage door to the person's room that he was looking for but for some reason, he couldn't face walking into the past with a click of his fingers. And it had been a while since he'd visited his former colleague's graves (of sorts).

He stepped through the door and it shut automatically behind him. Inside the warehouse were hundreds of smaller rooms about the size of an average household garage. The wall facing into the warehouse didn't exist and had been instead replaced by a simple practical archway. Above each archway read a name and a date. There were several rooms that weren't filled with anything and just collected cobwebs in the corners and around the single light bulb attached to the ceiling in the exact centre of the room.

He dreaded the day that he'd be moving boxes into one of them. A new name would join the ranks in the warehouse and a name would leave the ranks of Torchwood.

He walked purposely down the first aisle, past the empty rooms and then the rooms with the most recent engraved dates.

_Paddy Whitty  
__12/12/2017 _

_Sarah Lynn  
__12/12/2017_

_Georgina Baka  
__07/02/2016_

_Taylor Redford  
__23/06/2015_

_Terry Francis  
__28/02/2013_

_Louie Grate  
__11/03/2010_

_Ianto Jones  
__18/10/2008_

_Gwyneth Cooper  
__01/09/2008_

He came to a halt 23 rooms into the warehouse. Looking back the way he had come, a sense of overwhelming loneliness struck him. The door was out of sight and stood, alone, in the never ending semi darkness, it was impossible to stop the memories of Gray, his parents, Ianto, Georgina, Sarah and all the others swamping him.

He read the engraving on the archway he was hovering under again.

_Gwyneth Cooper  
__01/09/2008_

The boxes were piled in neat rows, heavy items at the bottom and clothes, jewellery etc in the higher boxes. Looking at the row from the long ago dates to the recent dates side, this room was the final one to be arranged neatly. Colour coordination and heaviness/lightness had gone out of the window after Gwen's room. Not even Tosh could ever beat the former tea boy's organisation skills.

The first thing that he took was a box – no more than 20cm long, covered with expensive looking blue velvet and with a fancy golden clasp (fading to bronze now) holding it together. The second thing he took was a book. It was A3 sized, with the words – Gwen's Scrapbook – emblazoned on the front in silver swirly writing. As he picked it up a newspaper clipping floated out from the pages and sunk slowly to the floor in a graceful sweeping motion. Jack paused to pick it up, slide it back into the book and place the book and box by his feet.

He moved deeper into the room. He surveyed each of the boxes individually as though they each revealed a fraction of Gwen to him. However, it was nothing new. He'd known much about Gwen before she left, mainly from their late night conversations in his office or playful banter as they hunted down weevils and she unknowingly let slip a snippet of information that he memorised, ready to laugh or sympathise about at the first uprising opportunity.

Jack spun around on the spot as he heard a clatter outside. It was probably just a cat but he made the decision waiting for him to stop his investigation and check what it was. Just in case.

Clutching the scrapbook and velvet box to his chest, he moved out of the room and retraced his steps to the door again. He only had to press one button to get out into fresh air again so the old man who was stooping from the industrial sized bins jumped as he appeared without warning.

"Wharr're you doin' 'ere?" the tramp stuttered, hunching his back and staring at the ground.

"I work here mate. And this is my property so I suggest that you give this scrounging site a miss and try the one next door. They deal with food imports." He winked at the silent man and moved in the direction of the SUV.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no … yes."

"Are you taking the mickey?" Jack paused. "Actually, I had a friend called Mickey once. Like the mouse. Used to drive him crazy. Mick Mick Mickety Boy." The old man fell silent again. "Bye then."

Jack climbed into the SUV and carefully placed the scrapbook on the passenger seat, with the box resting on top of it. The engine made a terrific revving noise that penetrated the witching hour effortlessly. Suddenly, in a much improved mood, he waved at the beggar cheerfully and pointed towards the warehouse next door that dealt with Sainsbury's packaging.

"Try round the back!" He called from the window.

_R&R PLEASE! :D_


	7. Schools

_I can't bothered to write anything up here at the moment._

**CHAPTER 6**

"The only thing that I'm complaining about is the bleeding uniform!"

"Well deal with it. You can't pick and choose Adam."

"Yeah but seriously? Tweed shorts? In January?"

"You could always wear these very sexy socks which you could pull up past your knees!"

"I'll look like someone from 1920."

"The whole of your school is going to look like it's from 1920. It's a private school and, for that reason, it's the only one who would accept you at such short notice."

"With a hefty pay out."

"With a hefty pay out," agreed Gwen. "Now get on your uniform."

"Can't you say that you didn't have time to go and get it? Please."

"No. That's what you've been saying for the past three days when really it's been sat in your wardrobe. Move!"

* * *

His first lesson of the day was French. He hadn't had the joys of experiencing French at this school yet, although he'd been thoroughly tested in his German and Spanish classes to see what he knew. He could speak German fluently and Spanish almost so and for that reason the French teacher had taken him aside as he entered the classroom and asked him if he could speak French at all. His reply had obviously pleased her as she smiled brightly and exclaimed: 'Brilliant! You'll be sat next to Isabella. She's bordering on the edge of an A so with your help maybe she'll get there." He'd groaned inwardly but smiled back at Madame Surnray, who seemed nice enough.

Isabella was a short but slim girl with cropped brown hair and sparkling brown eyes. As Madame Surnray pointed him to his seat, she looked up and gave him a bright grin, moving her bag and coat without argument from the empty chair beside her.

"Hiya. I'm Isabella Raint. Good to meet you."

He bestowed a perfunctory smile on her. "And you. I'm Adam." He turned back towards the board. Isabella would have been very easy to make conversation with but he was all too aware of the fact that he'd be leaving again very soon.

Madame Surnray began to talk so Isabella turned towards the front too. "We'll begin with some simple stuff to get your mind back into gear after the Christmas holidays. Now," she looked at her register, "Adam. Everyone, this is Adam Peters. He's moved here from an elite school in London so I expect you all to welcome him into this class environment appropriately." Adam felt, rather than saw, the eyes of his classmates swivel round to him. He kept his eyes fixed firmly on the board but in his peripheral vision he saw Isabella giving him a sympathetic look. He moved his head slightly in her direction and smiled weakly at her. "Right, Adam. Describe your maison."

He started and looked at her. She simply raised her eyebrows slightly and mouthed 'go on.' Alex changed his previously made up mind – this teacher was _evil_.

"Urm … J'habite une maisou de taille moyenne. C'est tres douilletee. Il y a trois chambres, un salon, une cuisine, deux salles de bains, un bureau et un garage en desordre. Oh, aussi, il ya un petit jardin. En haut, il y a ma chambre, la grande chambre et la petite chambre. "

He stopped as he realised he'd unwittingly described his home in London with Jack. Luckily, Madame Surnray took it as his ending and moved on to her next victim, Isabella. The class was looking at him, clearly astonished. He distinctively heard a boy mutter to his friend "So that's English, French, Spanish and German that he can talk. You owe me a fiver."

Alex had just turned to look at the boy who had been taking bets on him when his friend replied "What other bloody languages can he talk?"

"Well, I can speak welsh and I'm learning to speak Russian."

Both guilty parties looked towards him, startled. Alex recognised them as the pair in his German class who sat at the back making paper airplanes all lesson.

"Sorry mate," declared the first, although looking unmistakably not sorry.

Alex twisted in his seat to look at his book as Madame Surnray declared that she'd be going around the class and getting everyone to describe their house during the lesson. Amidst the inevitable groans that followed, Isabella tapped his arm and leaned in to whisper to him.

"I was new last term. They got a bit jealous of me because I speak French better than them so they decided to get their girlfriends to warn me off of being _too_ smart. They are brainy. They just don't like to show it."

"Tell me about it," he murmured back.

"You know, Madame Surnray did exactly the same thing as she did to you to me too. Only, I had to describe my weekend," recounted Isabella. She gave an infectious laugh. "I moved house, my mum temporarily split up with my dad and my brother nicked the ensuite bedroom that I'd already claimed."

"That accent. You're not welsh at all are you?"

"Nope." Isabella agreed cheerfully. "I'm a Londoner too. Only my dad got a transfer to here and he decided he'd take us all with him."

"Isabella?" He whispered her name to regain her attention from the class traipsing past the open door.

"It's Izzy and yeah?"

"Where abouts in London?"

"On the outskirts. And you?"

"Chelsea."

"Cool. I didn't think I'd know you but I thought I'd check! So where do you live now?"

"4 Turnmill Road. The apartments."

"No way! My uncle and his fiancée used to live there. But they moved because it was too small for them now and they wanted a garden for Yasmin and Evie to play in."

"Are Evie and Yasmin their kids?"

"Yeah. They're so sweet. I hardly ever see them though. Mum and Owen had a massive argument when he dropped out of medical school and moved when Katie died. She reckoned he was just running away from everything but he told her that he'd got a brilliant job offer as a doctor. But she didn't believe it and they haven't spoken since." She drew in a deep breath, gasping from her passage without oxygen. "I text him sometimes though."

"Owen. What was your aunt's name?"

"Not my aunt. Not yet. He proposed about five years ago but they've never gotten around to actually marrying. And it's Toshiko by the way. Toshiko Sato. Why?"

"And what about Owen. His last name?"

"Harper."

"What about his work? Where do they work?"

"I dunno. They never mention anything. Just 'special ops'. In the police or something." Izzy looked bemused. "Do you know them?"

"Something like that," Alex replied darkly.

* * *

"Gwen! Gwen!" A mini hurricane whirled around the rooms in the apartment, searching for a raven haired woman. Alex stopped just outside the largest bedroom as Gwen stepped out of it, toweling her sopping wet hair dry. Her eyes flashed dangerously.

"What the hell are you doing here? It's just gone midday. Unless your school finishes early on a Thursday then you had better have a brilliant explanation. We don't draw undue attention to ourselves unless we want people looking at us too carefully. You may only be fourteen but surely they've taught you that much already!?"

"They have," Alex replied coldly, smarting from the insult on his intelligence. "They also taught me how to jump fences and seeing as the one at school isn't very high, it didn't pose much of a problem when I needed to talk to you now because I got talking to Owen Harper's niece today." The anger disappeared from Gwen's eyes instantly, replaced instead by suspicion. "Where are the boxes?"

Gwen didn't say anything but Alex interpreted the colour draining from her face correctly. "They've taken them! God, Gwen. How could you be so lax? You must have realised they were the same people from the photo; or that they were the same people that you knew when you were part of this 'Torchwood'. Or did you really? Are you just playing me for a fool and the only reason you're here is to cover up something? I don't even have to be here. I've got nothing to do with Russia. I've got no reason to help you and your country!"

"All you need to do is walk out of here and you'll know that I'm not bluffing because I'll carry on searching for them. Go on. Leave. Walk away now and forget all about me," she taunted dangerously.

Alex looked at her through narrowed eyes. He didn't want to leave but right now he couldn't be sure of anything – her true identity, her involvement with this Torchwood and his willpower not to do something rash like break her nose or something similar. He'd fool her. He could make her think he'd gone back to London, which would flush her out if she was a double-agent.

"Fine," he breathed heavily. Spinning on his heel, he walked into his bedroom and withdrew a dark blue holdall from under the bed. Not stopping to grab anything but some clothes, his phone and washing stuff, he bundled his belongings into the bag. When he reentered the hallway Gwen hadn't moved although her face seemed a few shades paler. He stalked out of the door and it swung shut behind him.

"Souka," Gwen swore quietly.

If he didn't come back in under twenty-four hours, she'd be obliged to report him missing which would lead to her being pulled out of the operation in case he blew her cover. Or she could just allow him to wander around Cardiff aimlessly until she'd got what she needed. Or she could go after him now and force him to come back.

Every inch of her pride rebelled against her decision but she coerced her feet into moving towards the door.

"Shit, souka, svolach, bastard, sod it." Gwen's profanities as she climbed arduously up the flight of stairs (the lift had broken down in her absence) – alone – echoed around the brightly painted landing and staircase. As she emerged onto her landing, she immediately spotted a potential problem: the lock had, expertly, been tampered with. The fact that it was only just visible to her trained eyes suggested that someone with a dangerous amount of training or knowledge had been inside her flat. Pulling her gun cautiously from her inside pocket, she kicked open the door and proceeded inside.

Nothing appeared to have changed but she continued to check everything for interference. She uncovered two bugs – one on top of a kitchen cabinet and one inside her bedroom. They were miniscule creations and took her about half an hour to find. She hadn't known what she was looking for but now that she'd found them it was becoming horrifically evident. The only other modification in the apartment was a piece of lined paper that had materialized on the table, torn from a school book. It was covered in sprawling writing.

_**Owen Harper and Toshiko Sato. Ages unknown.  
**__**Two daughters – Evie and Yasmin. Ages unknown.  
**__**OH proposed to TS 5 years ago. Not married yet.  
**__**Moved because flat was too small for them. (But it has plenty of space so poss other reason?)  
**__**Isabella Raint – Owen Harpers niece. Her mum is his sister.  
**__**Say they work for 'Special Ops' in police. IR unclear. Says they were secretive about it.**_

Gwen smiled despite her predicament. It had been Alex. Then her face froze: if it was Alex who had broken into the flat, the bugs must have already been placed before they left. She thought back to when the boxes had been collected.

_The shower was deliciously warm and she allowed the water to flood around her tense muscles. She had just reached for the shampoo when the faint click of the door alerted her somebody's presence. _

"_Alex?" she called out._

"_No," a female voice replied. Her warm tones sparked a flicker of recognition within Gwen. "I'm just here to collect the boxes. I was the apartment's last owner."_

_Gwen jumped in alarm. "Right. I'm really sorry but could you wait for two minutes please. I just want to talk something through with you."_

"_I'm really sorry. I have to pick up my daughter from preschool. I should be there in ten minutes." The way she said 'ten minutes' sent another, stronger, flash of recollection through Gwen. She could picture the Japanese woman from the photo telling them how long they had to do something or how long the next turning was from them. She used to stay at The Hub and direct them from ground zero. Gwen shook herself mentally._

"_Toshiko? Is this Toshiko? Please wait. I just …" The door slammed shut. _

It was plenty of time to plant the bugs, especially if the woman, if she was indeed Toshiko, had an accomplice.

Gwen grabbed a pen from the coffee and scrawled four words onto the bottom of Alex's note.

**_The Hub.  
_****_Toshiko = techie_.**

She scrutintised the paper again.

The Hub was where 'Torchwood' was based. Owen and Toshiko had two daughters now, possibly could be used as leverage over them. Jack played an important role in it. They presumably, if Toshiko and Owen hadn't changed jobs, went by Special Ops. Ianto too, don't forget the tea boy _(where had that come from?)._ They had advanced technology at their fingertips if the bugs were anything to go by.

Sitting down on the sofa, she picked up the laptop which was lying on the cushion next to her.

Quickly logging in and connecting to the internet, she searched 'Torchwood' in Google. The page showed only four search results. Scanning through them all briefly, she was soon satisfied that a Deforestation Team in Canada was not what she was looking for. She changed her tack and alternatively searched 'Cardiff Special Ops'.

This search result went on over multiple pages, although even then it was still not teeming with results. The first few pages contained nothing of interest but when she had clicked onto the fifth page, one particular result caught her eye. It was a website with a live chat entitled 'What Has Torchwood Done to you?'

_Not exactly the catchiest of titles._

Nevertheless she logging in as '_RussianRaven'_ and decided to cut straight to the chase; her cover was already blown:

**RUSSIANRAVEN****: Hey all. I have links back to this Torchwood after an incident in my country. Can anybody tell me who they are?**

**ADMINISTRATOR****: Torchwood is an organisation that**** seems to go out of its way to chase trouble. Whenever something out of the ordinary happens, they swarm around like bees and take over the place.**

**COPPERWITHREVENGE****: I'd bloody well say so. I was a high ranked police officer until one day I was on the scene at a murder and a dirt great black SUV turns up. The tall one told me to clear the scene and when I told him that it was a crime scene he laughed at me. So, next day, I was asking around at the station about them and thought I was onto something. So I follow that SUV again to the Millennium Centre but then it disappears. And when I got back to the station, my boss calls me into his office and bang, I was fired for unprofessional conduct. They had an anonymous video sent in of me beating up a witness but I swear on God I didn't do that. There should have been an inquiry or something but no. I was just thrown out of the door. Not allowed back into the police now am I? **

**ADMINISTRATOR****: Torchwood ruins people's lives. Ordinary people's lives. They think that they have authority over the police and the government. **

**COPPERWITHREVENGE: I had to sell my flat cos they left me without any income. I know it was them that did it to me.**

**RUSSIANRAVEN****: Who are they? The people in this organisation?**

**ADMINISTRATOR****: There are only a select few. There's the tall man in a big military coat - the boss.**

**COPPERWITHREVENGE****: That's who spoke to me.**

**ADMINISTRATOR****: Then there's a black woman. Harkness' right hand man (or woman).  
****And a Londoner, wiry with brown hair. Looks like a weevil.  
****And another woman, Japanese, petite and slim. Allows carries around a laptop.  
****And then there's a welsh bloke. About your age, I'd say. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Used to be quite fat but he's lost weight since he joined.**

**RUSSIANRAVEN****: A/What's a weevil? B/How do you know all of this? C/What makes you think that you know my age?**

**ADMINISTRATOR****: Oh. Don't you remember what a weevil is? I'm disappointed Gwen.**

**RUSSIANRAVEN****: Who the hell are you?**

**ADMINISTRATOR****: And you don't remember me either!? My name is Bilis Manger. Remember now?**

**RUSSIANRAVEN: No.**

**ADMINISTRATOR: Oh, too bad. Be sure to say hi to Rhys when you see him though ... from me.**

**ADMINISTRATOR HAS LOGGED OUT**

_R&R please! =)_


	8. Police Please

_Voila =)  
__Please don't hurt me! I know that it's been a ridiculously long time! *runs and hides behind a big rock* At least let me know what you think before you hunt me down ... HINT HINT =D  
And a massive thank you to all your story alerters and reviewers and people who have generally helped me get a move on! For you - enjoy!_

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Seven**

22 Hours after Alex Left

Her head pounded from the lack of sleep she'd received. Her feet hurt from wandering around the Millennium Centre site for the past two hours. She was officially freaked out by the ominous message bestowed upon her by the mysterious Bilis Manger. All things considered, it had been a bad morning.

The yawning doors of the Central Cardiff Police Station were thrown wide open to combat the unseasonal sunshine and humid climate that had descended upon the bustling city, a freak circumstance that sent an unwelcome sense of foreboding to Gwen's already exhausted brain. She lethargically climbed the stairs that led to the door and stopped, quite suddenly, before walking onto the threshold.

Buffeted by memories, swaying as though caught in an unavoidable gust of wind, she gasped repeatedly.

Leaving her job, only not because she quit to leave the country. Because she had a better offer. And he was waiting in the car – a looming black SUV – out the front when she told them.

Andy calling desperately after her; he didn't want her to leave. As she walked out the doors, he'd whispered, almost broken-heartedly ...

"Gwen!"

She jerked her head upright, craning her neck to glimpse the person behind her before her breath was crushed from her body as Andy grabbed her for a hug.

"Gwen! Oh my god, Gwen!" He released her and she staggered away. He had the decency to look guilty for, oh, all of three seconds. "Sorry! I just ... it's been ... years! Come in, come on in. I'll show you to my office. Head of the station now Gwen! Me! Never good enough for Torchwood mind you but this is the real world, where it matters." His final three words were added with a bitter undertone.

They climbed the stairs in apprehensive silence; Gwen was practicing her training techniques on not showing your emotions whilst Andy was slightly fearful of what his former colleague had returned for. His crisp shirt ruffled against the door handle. The tension was tangible as he held open the door.

"Tea or coffee?"

"Coffee, wh ..."

"... white, three sugars. I don't forget Gwen." They offered each other a smile.

Settling into the nearest chair Gwen fished around for a painless, inconspicuous topic. "Any family then? Wife ... husband perhaps?"

"No," he replied shortly, "Boyfriend."

Gwen cocked her head curiously. "Really?"

"No! You fool, you haven't changed one bit, have you!" Then, they were both laughing, drinks forgotten on the desk, making – tentative at first – conservation about anything and everything under the sun. He forgot the murders that had been taking place in the alley by the old clock shop and she forgot the melodrama of the previous days. They were friends, quite impulsively, again.

But the inevitable couldn't be avoided forever and eventually the laughter faded, Andy's eyes narrowing to assume a concerned brotherly glare.

"Where did you go Gwen?" His voice softened and in contrast, his eyes hardened. "I was used to you ... leaving, quickly, not quietly, always out of the blue. I thought that it was something to do Torchwood. Alien in outer space or something and you'd all flown up there. Like you do, did. But no. Come Monday morning, there they were again, minus you, plus Rhys. Quick turnaround. I asked but nobody but the Japanese woman would mention your name. Eleven years and not one word. No email, no letter, just to say hi, hope you're okay." Gwen didn't break eye contact with Andy, neither one of them blinking. He sagged in his chair and the tension returned to the airy office.

"It wasn't my fault Andrew."

"Wasn't ... wasn't your," he fumbled for the words, apparently too incensed to speak. "Don't 'Andrew' me!"

"It wasn't my fault," she repeated quietly. "Just hear me out." He nodded curtly and sat straight, rigid in his unwavering posture. Her trained eye observed the grey staining his hair in places, the slight sheen of sweat on his brow and the way his left eyebrow twitched, as it always did when he was aggravated. "I was in a car accident, when I went to Moscow for a weekend break. I've always found Russia faintly intriguing. An unsolved enigma, I suppose, with its foreign letters and grand buildings. My mum went there when I was six. The pictures even then entranced me."

"Anyway, I had hired out a car. It was the Sunday and it was slightly icy. The petrol tanker that hit me skidded on a patch of black ice and two months later, I woke up from the coma with no memories of the last year of my life. I met a man who acted as my translator. He's a good friend and helped me make a new life for myself in Moscow. My injuries were lasting so it's only been in the last year that I've been fit to travel properly. And then Valera suggested that I come home again. So ... I'm here." She shrugged awkwardly, pleased with her story. The car crash wasn't a lie. Ruddy hell, it had been a Gwen sandwich in between two petrol tankers driven by two very angry double-agents!

Andy was staring at her. He opened and closed his mouth several times, then his eyes filled with persistent tears.

"I'm ... so sorry, Gwen. I didn't ... I didn't mean ..." His voice was choked but he, thankfully, kept the tears in check.

"I don't want sympathy, Andy," she murmured levelly. "I want help. I want my year back. I know that I worked for a Torchwood. Who are they? What do they do? And what about Rhys?" she added guilty.

It was his turn to tell the story now. For the next two hours, Andy filled Gwen in on what he knew, cajoled gently by her persistent questions. The sun sweltered but Gwen grew paler as she listened intently to his descriptions.

If Torchwood had caused the explosions, they were way out of their depths.

"What do you know about Russian politics Andy?"

He laughed. "Not much! I know about Putin and the Kremlin and Lenin but that's the extent of it all. There are the tsars, right? And the Russian Revolution and …"

"About six months ago, what seemed like half of Russia was shook by a series of explosions that killed thousands of people."

"I know about that too! It was all over the news …"

"In Moscow, I work for the government. The government tracked down the source of the explosions to here – to Torchwood. That was the deal Andy. I would get to visit Cardiff again if I checked out the background of them. And all I've found out is that aliens really do exist and that we are so out of our comfort zones here." He stopped his inane blabbering about his idea of 'Russian politics' and stared at her for what felt like the hundredth time that morning. "And stop staring at me like that!"

It wasn't strictly true. But Gwen was so used to telling lies that it flowed off her tongue as if it were. Right now she wished nothing more to be back in Moscow – at home.

"And the little old lady melted because they squished an orange in her face." Gwen stared at Andy.

"I beg your pardon!?"

"Err, nothing … old joke. Sorry." He seemed genuinely embarrassed.

The uncomfortable silence was broken by the telephone and his hand flew to it as the piercing rings cut through the air. "Hello?"

The one way conversation ended quickly and Andy stood up, Gwen following suit as he held out his hand awkwardly. She smiled; she shook it briefly before pulling him into a hug. "I never realised until today how much I've actually missed all my old friends."

"I'd love to talk more," he muttered into her ear, "but Captain Jack Harkness is meeting with me about a weevil attack last week." He felt Gwen stiffen instantly. She wrenched herself from him as if she'd been slapped.

"Goodbye Andy. We'll catch up again some time." She paused at the door, looking back at her former colleague. "Thank you."

And then she was gone. Her dark hair whipped the doorframe as she turned on her heel and walked away.

...

She hurried out of the building with her head down.

"Oh! Sorry!" Gwen looked up at the man that she'd bumped into and did a double take. She swayed precariously and his large hands darted instinctively to clutch her waist.

_Guns, his hands, so close, playfulness turning into lust._

Her breathing quickened, her face flushing red.

"That's alright," his deep American voice rumbled. His eyes were wide.

Before he could open his mouth to say anything more, she pushed herself away.

"Bye."

And then she was gone.

* * *

_So close =(  
Reallyy don't ask about the "old woman melting" part - a mad boy is sat next to me in English and we have nothing better (than coursework =S) to do. *cough* .Archer *cough* AND I DON'T NAG!_

_R&R please._


	9. Of Teletubbies, Teenagers and Spies

_So, here is the product of my inspirational five minutes =)  
Thank you for the reviews I recieved for the last chapter - they made me write faster!_

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Eight**

At approximately the same time that their boss and former colleague were bumping into one another in the sunny street, about five storeys under the Millennium Centre, a full scale argument was taking place.

The voices created echoes that bounced continually off the walls and furniture, listenable in even the vaults. Which was where a teenage boy, with fair hair hanging in strands across his forehead and serious eyes, was seated, looking thoroughly annoyed.

"You can not just take a BOY off the streets and haul him in for questioning!"

"Why the hell not?"

"Because, Owen Harper," at this Tosh poked him in the chest, "he is fourteen years old and you rather unceremoniously threw him in next to Janet."

Owen caught hold of Tosh's hands and held them together before she could prod him again. "He can tell us about Gwen."

"We already know enough about Gwen!"

"But the bugs were useless – she found them. You said so yourself."

Tosh faltered momentarily and wrenched her wrists from Owen's grip. They were stood very close together, breathing heavily and Tosh was eyeing Owen up with disgust.

"From what we heard –"

"All three seconds of it!"

"- we know that the boy isn't her son and they are trying to find out about us! It sounded as though they'd never met before. So what use is he?"

"And also from we heard, we've summarised that Gwen isn't here for her own personal means because otherwise she wouldn't have got someone she barely knows involved in a cover story! This isn't our Gwen and he might know exactly why she's here and what she wants!"

Tosh stepped back as though she'd been slapped. "Gwen is still Gwen."

"Tosh…" Owen protested faintly, realising that he'd maybe gone a step too far.

"We don't know what she's been through nor why she's lying so don't you _dare_ judge her. I let you do that to me for long enough and you are not going there again! Alex is not a piece of meat that you can dissect! He must have family somewhere and how do you think they would feel? What if someone used our daughters to get to us?" Owen visibly blanched.

Not entirely sure that she wasn't going to hit him, Tosh turned on her heel and made to walk away. She bent to her desk momentarily and pressed something into Owen's hands.

He looked down at the photo that had been pride of place of Tosh's desk. It was 14th June 2016. Tosh was sitting with Evie in her lap, in the hospital, and Yasmin was being held by Evie for the first time. His elder daughter's face was screwed up with an odd mixture of concentration and awe. He was perched next to them all on the bed, an arm wrapped around Tosh protectively, watching his little family. A perfect moment in his life, captured on camera.

He swallowed. When exactly he'd gone so soft, he wasn't sure but he definitely had these three females to blame.

Tosh leant against the wall in a corridor leading to the vaults. It was cool there, helpful to obliterate the lingering sense of dismay. _Bloody Owen Harper. Bloody arrogant, ignorant Owen Harper._

"Tosh?"

She glanced up, alarmed that she'd been caught. Hastily brushing the tears away, she saw Martha standing behind her, looking worried.

"It's nothing." Her voice cracked, giving the opposite impression.

"Owen?"

"No." Martha raised one eyebrow. "A little," she conceded after a pause. "Owen … and Gwen …and Evie and Yasmin … and Alex; we can't keep him down here! He's a bloody human being. We catch aliens!"

"I know. But we could have a slight problem. Where are Owen and Rhys?"

"Work level, I think."

"We'll get them to the meeting room. I'll tell you all together."

They climbed back to the surface of the vaults in record time, Tosh trailing behind Martha, mind working furiously. Martha marched straight upstairs, shouting orders for Owen and Rhys to follow. Tosh however stopped next to her desk.

"Owen?"

He was sat in her chair, giving the impression that he was looking at something on the screen. Tosh knew him better than that. He jumped, apparently unaware that she was there and stood up quickly.

"I'm..."

"I shouldn't ..."

They started, stopped then smiled at the same time.

"I'm sorry," Owen began, "that I was ... I dunno, being my old prat-like self. I didn't think of it. Not like that." He gestured vaguely at the photo that had been pinned back up.

"I know you didn't." She shrugged. "But I shouldn't have blown up that. Sorry."

"So we're quits?" Owen grinned broadly.

"Yeah, I think we are."

Martha, watching from the platform on which Jack's office stood, cleared her throat. "Now that you've got that sorted, meeting room." She disappeared into the board room.

"Come on," Owen muttered. He bent down unexpectedly and bestowed a small kiss on the corner of Tosh's lips.

...

They sat clustered around the head of the long table.

"We've had him in since ..."

"Yesterday afternoon."

"And why hasn't anyone questioned him properly before now?" Martha demanded.

They all looked ill at ease until Owen spoke up. "Tosh and I were too busy arguing about him while you and Rhys were discussing the merits of the teletubbies, from what I heard when you were over by the autopsy bay."

The room erupted:

"It was the species that came through last week!"

"I was running tests!"

"We couldn't help it if they had an astounding resemblance to the teletubbies!"

"Please don't tell me you used to watch that!"

"I did not! My niece ..."

"Martha doesn't have an excuse!"

"Yeah okay. I'll believe you Rhys; thousands wouldn't!"

"I had to get her a Tinky-Winky last Christmas."

"Ahh bless – he knows their names!"

"Digging yourself deeper now."

"You knew that Tinky-Winky was a name. I could have made that up."

"Don't know what you're sniggering about Martha."

"My daughters are five and two."

"Tinky-Winky!"

"OI! GUYS!" The racket continued. "SHUT UP!"

They all jumped simultaneously and the babble of chatter ceased immediately.

Jack was stood in the doorway. "First, I want to know EXACTLY how you got from important news regarding Alex to the _Teletubbies_. Secondly, what was the important news? Thirdly, I think we've got a problem."

"That's exactly what I said ... before some moron interrupted me."

"Martha, I can't help it if you have an obsession with guys in suits and a long wobbly thing on their heads. Ouch!" The pen hit him squarely on the forehead.

"And now you've got a dent in your head," Martha stated observantly. Tosh and Rhys sniggered behind their hands.

Jack pulled back a chair and flopped into it. On closer inspection he looked tired and somewhat gaunt. Martha and Tosh exchanged a worried glance as Owen scrutinised his boss, giving him the quick doctors once over.

"Owen!" Jack warned suddenly, clearly aware of the examination. They stared at each other for moment, clearly challenging the other man. Owen opened his mouth to say something and stopped only at the two kicks aimed at his shins under the table. "Martha, you were saying."

She nodded. "Yesterday I took a DNA sample from Alex, as we're now calling him."

"Well seeing as Adam isn't his real name and that's what Gwen called …"

"Anyway, I wanted to know who he really was because I couldn't see him as Gwen's son to begin with. His true name's Alex Rider but all of his files are classified top secret by MI6."

"What do six want with a kid?" Owen wondered out loud.

"That's what I thought," agreed Tosh, "so I bypassed the systems and he lives in London with his American housekeeper/guardian Jack Starbright. His parents died when he was young, in an airplane crash. He was brought by his uncle, a top MI6 operative, and secretly trained to be an agent from a very young age. His uncle died in an op. Six decided, aged fourteen, Alex would make a perfect, unsuspicious replacement. It worked. Since then he's been involved in several missions. He's the wonder kid of the English military intelligence."

"So what's he got to do with Gwen?"

"That where our problem begins." Martha spoke up. "I just spent the last three hours talking to him. He knows how to keep quiet but he did say one thing of note. 'They', meaning MI6, know that the explosions in Russia had something to do with us."

Rhys swore under his breath.

"There's more." It was Jack's turn to impart his information upon his team. "I had to see Andy about that attack last week. Let's face it here; I am astounding he worked his way up so high. Especially when with a few choice questions and my amazing charisma, of course, he'll start talking.

Gwen isn't here because she decided to come back. She's here because she was ordered to. She's been asking questions about us. Tells everyone she's been in a car accident and suffered memory loss and they're putty in her hands." His eyes blazed with his bitter words. "Her and Alex are both somewhat unlikely agents for their respective home countries. It's not the English that know about the explosions Martha, it is the Russians as well. It's slightly disastrous."

The feeling of restlessness was growing stronger.

"Is it? That bad I mean. Obviously it's bad but …"

"UNIT has been looking for an excuse to close us down since half of Cardiff got blown up because of me. Now they have the perfect ammunition. And the Kremlin isn't renowned for their easygoing attitude. I'm surprised we've not got missiles pouring down onto our heads right now."

"Maybe Gwen hasn't reported back."

"Right. So, I want Tosh, Owen and Rhys to bring her back here. No guns blazing please." He looked pointedly at Owen and Rhys.

"Hey, that was one time and I was not about to let Mr Cocky over there win the bet."

"Why bet at all over something as stupid as that?"

"It was his idea!"

"Do you know, you lot have an extraordinarily short attention span – with the exception of Tosh."

"We'll just talk to her Jack. Don't worry." Tosh smiled reassuringly.

"I know you will." He nodded marginally to the two men again, now throwing paper at one another's head. Jack plucked a stray one out of the air and lobbed it with extreme precision at Owen. "Do you want another dent?"

"Hey! How comes you go for me and not him?!"

"Because if I threw anything at Rhys, he'd lose the few brain cells he has."

"Pleasures all mine Jack." Rhys said as he filed out of the boardroom, patting Jack on the shoulder a little harder than was necessary.

"Stay on the comms!" Jack called after their backs.

...

They climbed up the stairs in silence. A thoroughly disgruntled Owen had moaned at the broken lift at first but lapsed into silence when they reached the third flight, conserving his breath. The remainder of the climb was done in silence; it was as though they were scared that she would somehow hear them and escape once again.

As the trio emerged onto the landing of Tosh and Owen's last home, they moved closer together.

"We can just knock on the door and tell her."

"Like a big reunion and all?"

"Tosh, sweetheart, you really think that's going to work?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Tosh flared.

"I have," interjected Rhys. "If you two stop arguing then my big idea is this." He strode confidently to the door, looking a lot more confident than he felt, and pressed the door bell, once, twice, followed by a short rhythmic knocking. He wasn't about to admit it but that had been his and Gwen's 'thing' – their knock to let the other know it was them if it was late at night or at an awkward time.

Tosh and Owen hurried to Rhys's side. There was silence from the apartment; no muffled yell of 'I'm coming' or 'just a second' and there was definitely no scrape of a chain being pulled back or a small squeak as the door opened. The stillness was deafening.

Owen surreptitiously touched his chest. The trademark leather jacket clung to his slightly sweaty hand but he was comforted to feel the shape of his gun through the fabric. Tosh glared at him. He shrugged but removed his hand from the reassuring outline.

Rhys stepped forwards again – two door bell rings, seven musical knocks.

Tosh swallowed. She had an overwhelming sense of foreboding about this entire thing. She shifted slightly, bouncing from heel to toe, in time with Rhys's knocking. Sensing her discomfort, Owen thread his arm through hers and smiled in what he hoped was an encouraging way, despite the fact that it felt he had lockjaw.

The sudden crash from the other side of the door made them all jump – literally – a foot into the air. Owen's grip on Tosh's arm tightened marginally.

The third time Rhys touched the door, he forgot about the playful little tune from years gone by and pounded on it.

"Hey!" They spun around guiltily. A short woman in a pale violet dressing gown stood behind them, hands on hips, watching them beadily. "Are you trying to break that poor woman's door down? Oh, Toshiko, Owen! How pleasant it is to see you again. Are the girls anywhere?"

"No, Mrs Harrigen. They're at their childminders." Tosh's face lit up suddenly; she pulled away from Owen and walked quietly towards the door, slipping something out from her bag as she did so. Trying desperately to keep the old neighbour's attention on him, he babbled on. "Yes, um … Evie is in a school play next week. And Yasmin has been trying to say 'intelligent'. The new house is beautiful by the way." However, her gaze remained resolutely on Tosh, who was now fiddling with a small device and holding it up against the door. Rhys was attempting, unsuccessfully, to block her from view with his body.

_You're at the wrong bloody angle_, Owen almost screamed at him. The only thing that the Welshman was managing was to make it seem more suspicious.

"How're things with you, Mrs Harrigen?"

"Oh … you know … quiet." The door sprung open with a satisfying click and Tosh and Rhys rushed inside. Owen turned to follow but crashed into the first two in the doorway.

"What on earth has gone on here?" Mrs Harrigen exclaimed, having followed him in. "Shall I call the police?"

The term 'like a bombsite' was used a least twice a week at Torchwood. Tosh alone used it frequently when describing the house after Owen and the girls had been home alone for a day. But when Mrs Harrigen, the first to push past the three alien hunters and wander into the house, muttered it under her breath, she truly meant it.

Spurred on by the elderly woman's action, they shoved past her, pulling out their guns as they went, ignoring her cries of disbelief and amazement.

The trail of debris stretched from the end of the hall, into the living room and ended at the sofa. A laptop was lying on the floor, screensaver ('Gwen Cooper – Disney Moments ') flashing across the screen. Owen and Tosh shared an anguished glance, wondering if Gwen remembered anything or not because that was certainly familiar to them. The cushions were thrown around the room and a thick pungent smell of god-knows-what filled their noses. Tosh gagged. A broken glass of something dripped steadily onto the wooden flooring. That – and their heavy breathing – was the only sound in the room.

Thoughts of Mrs Harrigen shot briefly across Owen's mind, but she'd disappeared so he would sponge her off onto Martha to be dealt with later.

"It's like …" Rhys faltered.

"There's no broken windows or tampered with lock. It's like someone or something just materialised and attacked her as she was on her laptop." Tosh began walking slowly back towards the hall. "They chased her down here. She was probably trying to get out but…" The red smear on the back of the door told a story none of them wanted to imagine.

"And then they just disappeared into thin air?" Owen asked sceptically.

Tosh trained her gun on him. "Do you work for Torchwood or not Owen?"

"Okay ... just put the gun down Tosh." She lowered it to her side, although they both knew that she would never use it against him. It was an easy way to make him shut up for once.

A buzz of static that suddenly filled their ears startled them.

"I thought I told you to stay on the comms!" roared Jack.

"We did!" Tosh replied, bewildered.

"No you bloody well did not."

"Listen to Tosh, Jack. We did not go off the network."

"I have been trying to contact you for the past ten minutes - with no response!"

They could almost feel his wrath down the earpiece. Rhys was growing steadily redder in the face with anger as Jack's shouting continued. Tosh was slowly putting together parts of the puzzle and once she'd placed the last piece, she tried to speak over Jack. Her voice worked its way up from a talk to a raised voice to a yell but he still continued.

"IF YOU SHUT UP AND LISTEN, JACK, YOU'LL FIND OUT THAT TOSH IS TRYING HER DAMNEDEST TO TELL YOU SOMETHING! SO BE QUIET AND LISTEN TO WHAT SHE'S SAYING BECAUSE IT COULD BE IMPORTANT!" Rhys bellowed without warning. Already jumpy, Tosh and Owen started in alarm _again_.

"I am getting fed up with this," Owen muttered.

Tosh finally began explaining: "We must have been close to the apartment ten minutes ago, maybe even on the landing. Our comms were working when we came into the building but sometime during the climb, they stopped and we didn't notice as we weren't talking anyway. Whatever took Gwen must have done so quickly because it looks like they didn't stick around to be nice. That crash was, what, three minutes ago so they were still there then. I'd say that whatever it was managed to block communication and they only turned on now because of residual energy."

Rhys and Owen stared at their female companion in amazement. "How did work that out so fast?" Rhys murmured in wonder.

"Jack?" The crackling remained the only noise in their ears for at least a minute. "Jack?"

"I think he's gone into shock," Martha replied quietly, taking over. "What do you mean Gwen's gone?"

"We'll explain later. I don't know about you but this place is giving me the creeps."

"One minute." Tosh held up a camera. "Martha, can you run a trace on any abnormal activity in or around this address since Gwen's moved in? Thanks." She steadily panned round the room, clicking continuously. "Just the hall left now," she said to her co-workers as they stood silently, swinging their arms slightly. She pressed down upon the shutter a few more times and "Done."

"Come on." Rhys led the way.

"Do you ever stop thinking?" Owen teased as they closed the door gently, Tosh locking it again. His attempt at lightening the mood a notch seemed very transparent given the knots that his stomach was creating.

"Occasionally," she smiled. She grabbed his hand as they started down the stairs, squeezing it a little.

...

Tosh turned around as they eventually left the building and climbed into the SUV.

The thin figure watching them from a fifth floor window was motionless against the dark glass. She shivered unwillingly; then she blinked and turned to call for Owen. He poked his head out of the window.

"Where?"

Her head swivelled around.

The window was empty.

* * *

_You should all be VERY glad to know that I now known exactly what's going to happen in this story, so the plan is that there's only three more chapters after this!  
__Can I ask you all something? Thank you =) My characterisation in the first couple of parts, does it fit? I'd be muchly grateful if you could answer that.  
__Pleasee ... leave a review. It makes me write quicker =D_


	10. Fields of Gold

_A tres short chapter but the next one is going to be extra llooonnggg so I'll make up for it! :)_

**

* * *

**

Chapter Nine

She awoke roughly with a powerful kick to her abdomen. The sun blinded her momentarily as she blinked, once, twice, with the realisation of what had happened adding another pain to her stomach.

"_Gwen Cooper, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."_

The sun was setting, she noticed glumly. There was less chance that she'd been found in the dark; it was one of the first things drummed into you during the vigorous RIS training. Never go out on an op at night if you can help it. Oh, and don't go without backup or a partner. She'd broken both rules and now she was paying the price.

"_I'm so sorry …" _

She gasped as another sharp slap jerked her body from the floor by the sheer brute force of it. Blood trickled slowly from her nose, onto her crimson top. The second shade of red looked like the intrusion that it was.

"I'm not telling you anything!" She was grating the words out of her bloodied mouth.

"What makes you think that I need you to tell me anything?" a silky voice mocked from behind her. She only knew his rough location because of the punch to the back of her head. Her neck jarred and she bit her tongue. His voice was resonating from everywhere around her and it sent an unwelcome shiver down her spine.

"_Would you rather be stuck in World War Two?"_

She swung her body around without warning, lashing out with her feet, driving them into the neck of her captor. She completed her move and stood breathing heavily.

There was no-one there; there was no-one at all in the vast golden field that she was standing in the middle of.

"_Do you really want to know?"_

In the distance, the very far distance, she could see several high rise buildings. They tilted dangerously as she did, swayed from side to side as she tried to focus on them. Her battered head wouldn't let her do so but it meant there had to be people. They must have been ten miles away but it gave her hope.

"_You bring him back, you bring him back, or what the fuck is the point in you?"_

She started to run. She was running from this haunted field, from the voices that didn't exist, from that inescapable feeling of disquiet and the sense that she was running from something that you couldn't run from.

"Going somewhere?"

He was sat on the fence, and she was definitely sure that he hadn't been there a second ago.

She blinked in surprise and then he was behind her.

"What the fuck do you want with me?" she shot at him, adrenaline and fiery anger lacing her voice.

He laughed humourlessly. "Don't you remember?"

"I asked you the question first so you answer that and I might answer yours."

"I'm not quite sure that you understand this Gwen."

"I think that I understand perfectly – I asked the question first."

That laugh – again – echoed around the field.

"I want you to remember."

"Remember what?" Gwen demanded.

"Everything."

She looked at him askance.

"_He wears a cravat." _

This man was wearing a cravat.

"_Bilis Manger? He's the caretaker."_

These … thoughts … were invading. They weren't her … but they were so real.

"Bilis Manger?"

"Ahh, now we're getting somewhere."

"_From out of the darkness, he has come."_

The last rays of sun disappeared, leaving the sky a blood red.

And then it _was_ there, all of it, rushing into her head, insulting her knowledge of the world with the new information it brought. One day – Tosh and Jack, World War Two. Then another – Rhys dead, Jack dead, the team so small without him. And then more … more … and more …

Bilis watched in awe.

"How much do you remember Gwen?"

She looked up, hair clinging to her terrified face. She took in the sight of him with wide eyes.

"You!"

She backed away futilely.

"How much Gwen?" he whispered.

"That day," she cried, "you … Jack was … all of it."

His eyes darkened dangerously. "All of it?" She sobbed, covering her face with her muddy hands as it crumpled. "It's a pity … for you, I mean. It must hurt to have years of memories poured into your head. I find this rather fun!" His sunken eyes widened. "You will understand Gwen. I need you to remember."

"What the hell are you doing to me?" she choked.

"You already know, I think. I'm showing you what's been there all along, hidden underneath the surface."

Without warning, he seized her hand.

"It should have been the End of Days," he snarled, "except for you … and him got in the way of my Master. He was _so_ angry and he hurt me _so_ much. Like I'm going to hurt you and your precious Jack."

The fields of gold disappeared as she closed her eyes.

* * *

_Uh oh :S  
Reviewers can have a niccee pryaniki that I'm making again!_


	11. Reunion

_Hello :) Again :)  
I've split this chapter into two because it was getting quite long so ... Part One._

**

* * *

****CHAPTER TEN**

Jack was waiting for them outside the Tourist Office, hands on his hips, with a fierce glow in his eyes.

"What the hell happened?"

"Inside, Jack," Owen murmured, ushering a pale Tosh through the door. Rhys followed silently, unable to get the picture of the blood on Gwen's door out of his head. Owen recognised the first symptoms of shock in the Welshman and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"She'll be okay mate."

They didn't speak again until the entire team was seated around Tosh's workstation, staring in horror at the screen. Martha had provided them all with steaming cups of coffee and it was these that they clutched as the devastation filled the screen.

"Shit," Martha intoned every time that a new photo appeared.

"So you think that she was still there when you ..."

The lights faded suddenly and the hum of the computers stopped. The Hub was deadly silent.

"What the fuck happened?" Rhys started.

"We went into lock down." Tosh's voice could be heard through the gloom, somewhere to his left. "The backup lights should be on by now though."

"So why the fuck aren't they?"

"Aww, does wittle Whysie not like the dark?"

"Stop fucking around Owen!" Rhys ordered, but there was a definite note of panic in his voice.

"Tosh?" Jack's voice too held a tremble that she'd never heard there before.

"I don't know Jack. I'm sorry but I really don't know!"

A horrific realisation struck Martha and she voiced it uncertainly: "If the lights aren't coming on, how do we know that the locks on the vaults aren't open?"

"Tosh!" Owen demanded. She took the signal appropriately and was tapping urgently at the dead keyboard before he'd finished the syllable. His body warmth close behind her was slightly comforting but she'd much prefer it if the "Bloody computers would turn on!" The tail end of her thoughts filled the Hub loudly.

"Okay Toshiko, I think that we all need to calm down now." Jack's comforting voice was behind her now. "Let's face it – with me as the captain what could possibly happen?" Martha and Owen made small sounds of indignation.

"Which is why we're sat in the dark hoping the weevils aren't creeping towards us, eh Harkness."

"Oh don't worry Owen, the weevils we would hear."

"That's encouraging," he muttered darkly.

"Better have your guns ready just in case, boys and girls."

When they were still sat there five minutes later Jack suggested a game of sardines in the dark. Once they'd all proclaimed that he was 'an idiotic prick", the focus had shifted to 'I Never' with a bottle of scotch that Jack had pulled from his greatcoat.

"You get bored quickly, don't you Jack?"

"Oh yes."

In truth he was dreading the moment that the lights returned. The light-hearted guise might have been working in the dark but the moment that the team could see him again – see his face – they'd be no fooling anyone.

"I'm really sorry." Tosh sounded genuinely upset. "I can't understand what …"

The lights flickered on slowly.

"Take it all back. That was all me!"

They breathed a sigh of relief as the top level vaults proved full and locked. The same proved true for the next levels … and the next. But then came the inevitable moment when the sigh didn't – wouldn't come.

"Alex," breathed Martha.

"Seal the entrances, Tosh. Where is he?"

Tosh frantically searched the CCTV cameras, working her way up through the levels. "He couldn't have gone far," she consoled as she looked, "It was pitch black down there and all the passages and weevils … he'd have to be one hell of a kid."

"But he's not a kid Toshiko; he's a spy, which was why he was in our basement in …"

"He's there Jack." Tosh's voice dropped to a whisper. She pointed at the screen and the team craned their necks to see - in the entrance to the autopsy bay crouched Alex.

"Okay Tosh, start running that trace on Gwen please. Rhys with me, Owen and Martha stay back." The team nodded their affirmative.

He started to walk towards the autopsy bay. They turned to stare at him in disbelief until he started talking. "Rhys I left that paperwork on the Teletubbies down in the bay. Did you see it earlier?"

"Urm … oh, no. I'll just go and look for it, shall I?"

"Cheers."

Rhys turned his back on the stairs and gave Alex a chance to come clean. That was the first mistake. Alex drove his heel into the small of his back, causing Rhys to drop to the floor with cries of agony. Jack leapt forward and grabbed the boy, lifting him bodily from the floor and away from Rhys.

"That wasn't very smart," Jack muttered as Martha rushed forwards to Rhys.

"Keeping me locked in your basement wasn't very smart either but it didn't stop you," Alex stopped struggling for long enough to say. Jack dumped him in a chair and stood over him to prevent any escape routes.

"If you try to escape – and I really don't want to do this but I will – I will stun you and you will find yourself back in the cells. Deal?"

He didn't reply immediately but simply watched Jack through narrowed eyes.

"Let me introduce you to my team." He waved at Tosh and a watery eyed Rhys standing with the two medics. "Captain Jack Harkness at your service. The guy that you just kicked was Rhys Williams, Dr Martha Jones, Owen Harper, and Toshiko Sato."

"That's _doctor_ to you!" Owen retorted sharply.

Alex stared openly at the last three people, analysing their faces, comparing them to the grainy images of CCTV footage that he'd been shown. It was definitely, without a shadow of a doubt them and he realised, with sinking revelation, that if they could kill thousands of people and still be stood here, guilt free, they'd have no qualms about killing him or Gwen too.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because we think that you have the completely wrong end of the stick here."

"Somehow I don't think so. You killed," he turned to Owen and Martha now, "thousands of innocent people and you're still stood here complaining that he didn't call you 'doctor'! You're sick in the head, the whole lot of you!"

Jack took a step back so that Alex was able to get a glimpse of Tosh's stricken face. "You're wrong Alex. My team didn't kill thousands of people. They _saved_ millions of people. That's why they're stood here today."

"We are talking about the same event here aren't we?"

"Russia."

"Yeah, so how on this earth did you get to that conclusion?"

"There are a lot of things on this earth that you don't understand Alex."

"Try me then."

There was a short pause during which Martha nodded marginally.

"Aliens."

The silence was longer this time.

"Aliens?" Alex repeated incredulously.

Jack inclined his head once, smiling at some unknown joke. "There's a rift in space and time. Aliens or time refugees and artefacts fall through."

"That's your explanation?"

"Yes."

"It's crap." Despite his smart talk and cool interior Alex was feeling tenser that he ever had on an op before. If they were telling the truth – and the logical part of his brain was wholeheartedly rejecting the idea – then he had no idea what he was doing. His own uncertainty riled him more than the fact that he'd just be told that aliens existed. That he could still pass off as a fanciful story; his churning insides were another matter altogether.

Owen and Martha exchanged an exasperated look.

"Have a look at this Alex." The Japanese accent in the words marked out who was speaking immediately. Her voice was softly spoken and she smiled at him as Jack escorted him to her computers. The photos on her sideboard shouted to the rooftops that she was the most unlikely terrorist that Alex had yet met.

Jack kept one hand grasped tightly on his left shoulder as he walked stiffly across the metal grating to the workstation. When he realised that he wasn't planning on running anywhere, the grip loosened slightly. It was evident as soon as he moved one finger and Alex was secretly pleased that they were just about beginning to relax around him.

"CCTV records and rift monitoring for that day. Official reports, ours, the Russian police, RIS are all here so you can compare them. We're not murderers." There was such gentle conviction in her voice that he believed her; nearly.

Alex was awarded all of fifteen seconds skimming over the Torchwood report of the massacre when a second window blocked his view of the inhuman script.

Tosh swore silently as she watched it fly from the minimized box that she'd made it to the inescapable full screen that it was now. More of the uniform writing filtered through a bar at the bottom, captioning several graphs and screenshots. Gwen stared unblinkingly at them from her Torchwood employee photograph, jolting Alex's stomach.

He'd nearly forgotten what they'd done.

"Where's Gwen?"

"We don't know."

"Well you've got a lot of information there."

"We're trying to find her." Jack was stood behind him, reading the blue screen over his shoulder. Every syllable that he spoke was clipped.

"What do you mean 'trying to find her'?"

"She was kidnapped." His gaze was drawn inexplicably to another photo on screen, the date marking it as having been taken earlier that evening. The havoc that had been thrusted upon the cosy little flat was evident everywhere, right down to the blood stain on the door.

"What have you done to her?" Jack walked tiresomely away from the computer, kneading his head with his hands. "What she ever done to you to deserve this?"

"She's done a lot of things."

"So you do this," he gesticulated furiously at the screen, "to her!"

"You've got the wrong end of the stick again Alex," Jack said tiresomely, still with his back to him.

"Stop treating me like a kid!" he yelled, "Are you going to keep me locked up with her down in your basement again? Or maybe you're going to kill me like you did to all those innocent people?"

Jack spun around, his greatcoat knocking a mug off the table next to him.

"Yes!" He was shouting too. "That's exactly what we're going to do!"

That was the second mistake.

Fighting down the blind panic and fury that was erupting inside him, Alex grabbed a gun – a 9mm Browning High Power pistol – from Toshiko's desk and held it against her head.

"You really shouldn't leave guns lying around. A kid can never resist playing with new toys!"

It was in slow-motion that he watched the two people in front of him – Martha and Owen – pull their guns on him. It would have been a majestic move to withhold if it wasn't for the ugly sticks of metal that it produced. He knew that the move would have been mirrored by Jack and Rhys behind him.

He waited for the inevitable onslaught of bullets ripping into his flesh … but it didn't come. It was only now that he was faced with the prospect of four extremely angry adults with guns that he realised that his wise move had probably only made the situation worse. The only way out was play it through to the end reasoned his brain.

He shifted his body so that Toshiko was between him and the muzzles of the guns.

"Let me go and leave Gwen alone." His voice sounded so pathetic all of a sudden. The adrenaline was coursing through his body but he knew that he'd never pull the trigger; he couldn't do it to Mrs Jones and he wouldn't be able to do it here.

"You're in no position to make demands!" Jack snarled.

"Actually I am."

He pressed the metal harder into the woman's hair.

"You won't do it Alex." Martha spoke to reassure, although judging by the shaking and furious expression on Owen's face, it wasn't solely for him.

As he clicked off the safety catch in reply, he focussed on the man. If he was a weak link, he would exploit it. But it could go one of two ways – his escape or his death.

He glanced back to the woman whose head he was currently holding a gun too. He wasn't even sure that it was loaded but judging by the whimper that escaped her mouth as he turned, he was betting that he was training a ready, loaded gun on her.

Toshiko forced herself to keep still and look at the photo on her desk that she'd shoved into Owen's hands only an hour ago. Her breathing quickened as she felt the coolness of the gun against her skull.

Above her head, Alex and Owen's eyes locked.

Alex was momentarily unnerved by the sheer hatred and raw terror that was emanating from him. His hand shook and scrapped against the woman's head.

Several things happened in close succession.

A loud screech, courtesy of Myfawny, tore through the tense air as Owen, already bouncing on the balls of his feet, lunged forward.

Alex jumped a foot into the air as the noise ripped through his ears. He released Tosh, spinning around wildly for the source of the interrupting commotion. He didn't see Owen until the urgent yells of Martha and Rhys whipped his head around again and he caught a glimpse of him before he was thrown backwards into the desk. The hard surface of the desk came rushing up to meet him and his head smashed against the corner.

He went dizzy; hardly aware that his arm was pulled roughly down, then brutally twisted behind his body. Somehow he still had the gun in his hand so when Alex's finger tightened reflexively, a round of bullets tore into the space behind him.

Rhys screamed once as the bullets hit, first him then Jack, tearing into flesh, puncturing his skin in numerous places.

He crumpled to the floor like a puppet and Gwen announced her presence with a piercing scream of agony that escaped her mouth unwillingly as she saw Rhys and Jack collapse. She'd been forced to watch the scene from high above in Jack's office, kept still and silent by Bilis who had taken them here.

"RHYS!"

Her strength had suddenly trebled as the gunshots sounded and she bit down hard onto Bilis' withered hand. He cursed and momentarily released her. Gwen took immediate advantage and sprinted for the door. She made it to the stairs before he appeared in front of her again.

"RHYS! NO!"

Tosh, Owen and Martha stared upwards in shocked disbelief. Alex watched Gwen move and tried to get up too, only to be forced down again by Owen. His head slumped forwards as he finally succumbed to unconsciousness, not before he registered the fact that Gwen had been grabbed by some random person and had disappeared in front of his eyes.

The shocked silence descended onto the Hub as quickly as it had been interrupted.

It lasted for about three seconds before Owen and Martha moved simultaneously towards their fallen colleagues' sides.

There was blood everywhere; the mens' mingled together as it filtered through the metal grating. Even as they ran towards them, they knew that there no chance. There was no chance that Rhys or Jack was still alive, had been alive for long after the bullets hit them.

And they weren't.

Rhys lay broken; his left leg was twisted at a strange angle where he'd been thrown backwards as the metal casts hit him. Jack lay behind him, breathing shallowly as he clawed his way back into life.

Tosh silently crept up behind Owen and he turned reflexively.

"He's …"

"He's dead Tosh."

Martha let out a quiet sob when Owen said the words and even Owen paled horribly. Only Tosh said nothing, pushing past the doctors and kneeling besides Rhys, carefully avoiding the large pool of blood.

"Tosh, don't …"

She reached down to Rhys' face and gently touched his cheek. It never got easier; losing her friends never made her more detached or more mature, like her mother told her once at her father's funeral when she was nine years old. It just hurt.

Her eyes met with Rhys', staring upwards at her face. He was accusing her: why didn't she show some courage and grab the gun from Alex as he'd held her hostage? Why had she even left her gun on her desk? She blinked furiously and the illusion passed; when she looked down again they were empty and staring. She willed her slim fingers to close his eyes and it was only once she'd done so that she stood up.

Her boots squelched disgustingly. Looking down she discovered that despite her best efforts her shoes were covered in blood and gore and her hands had inadvertently landed in one of the puddles as she'd steadied herself.

There was blood on her hands.

A loud gasp penetrated the air as Jack regained full consciousness.

"Now, that one hurt," he muttered to himself, brushing himself off. "Oh my god, look at my shirt! It was the best of the bunch. Pure 100% cotton that was and …"

"Jack," whispered Tosh, breaking his rant.

Jack's eyes flew from Tosh's numb face, to the crumpled leap that was Alex, to the man on the floor with him. He closed his eyes but could see, imprinted onto his eyelids, the burning picture of Rhys Williams lying next to him.

The remaining three members of his team turned away, ashamed to be intruding.

He blinked away the sharp tears that were forming and forced down the taste of something bitter in his throat. They'd never been best friends but they'd been partners in crime in pulling pranks on Owen or making up inappropriate jokes to tell to Tosh and Martha just to see them squirm.

"Does it not occur to you to move if there's a round of bullets heading towards you?" he muttered distractedly, despite knowing that what he was saying was complete inane rubbish.

He rose silently to his feet. There was Owen, tenderly wiping Tosh's hands clean of the blood, Tosh looking too pale, too distant and Martha typing steadily at a computer, not pausing as the tears splashed onto the keyboard every time she blinked.

"Owen, help me," Jack called, nodding back towards the body.

Together, they carried Rhys down the stairs to the autopsy bay. Jack winced numerous times as he felt his stomach contract, automatically mending the damage that had been caused.

They laid him down carefully on the table. His face was seemed so pale underneath the red paint that covered it.

He looked up at his girls as he arranged his hands by his side. Tosh was now sat at the computer and Martha was behind her. They were whispering furiously and Martha laid a comforting hand on Toshiko's shoulder. Sensing his gaze, they looked over but dropped their eyes almost immediately.

"Jack." It was Owen's turn to catch his attention and lay a comforting hand on his shoulder. "While you were … out, we saw Gwen." Owen shifted uncomfortably, cursing the fact that Jack had to know about every little detail. "Please, don't say anything, just listen. She started screaming when she saw you both get shot and, I dunno, broke free of Bilis and tried to run down the stairs and she was shouting and then Bilis caught her up and then they disappeared. I think she'd watched it all. I think Bilis made her."

He was silent. He saw Owen and Martha exchange a worried glance and was aware of Tosh's quiet concern but he didn't really register it.

_Bilis. Fucking. Manger._

He growled from deep within his throat and Owen withdrew his hand instinctively.

"Bilis fucking Manger?"

"Yeah," confirmed Owen tentatively.

"Right, have you run a scan for transportation activity, Tosh?"

"Pardon?" She seemed genuinely unable to answer the question so then it was his turn to be shocked. But then, he reflected later, it was probably more to do with his abrupt change of demeanour than Toshiko losing brain cells.

"It's running now," Martha supplied.

"We need to find Gwen." He looked once more at the still warm corpse of Rhys Williams before running up the stairs. "We can mourn later but right now, if we don't find her, we could be mourning one more person."

"Jack, if Bills kidnapped her at the flat and we couldn't trace anything then I really do doubt that we're going to have something … oh." Tosh stopped and looked at the screen in mild surprise.

Jack rushed to her side. "Owen, I want you to get the SUV ready. Martha, Alex is coming with us."

"But …"

"I know what he did but he didn't mean to and I didn't mean what I said either. He's coming with us so try to patch him up and wake him up. Please."

The pair separated so Jack finally got a clear view of the screen.

"They're on the outskirts of Cardiff. A," she peered closer at the miniscule map in the corner of the screen, "Coates Woods."

"Can you take this with you?"

"Yeah, just give me two seconds." She fiddled with a few buttons, surreptitiously obscuring Jack's eye line with her body. "It's on my laptop."

"Toshiko Sato, how did you do that so quickly?" Jack probed as they hurried to the lift.

They stepped on together and Tosh linked her arm through Jack's as they jolted upwards; heights had never been her forte.

"We work in an alien catching secret base!" Tosh replied in a tone that suggested that he shouldn't really ask questions.

They exchanged a small smile and for a moment, the dead body beneath them and the reason for the conversation was forgotten. But then Owen hooted impatiently the moment that he saw them step off the slab and it all came rushing back.

"What...?"

He had parked the SUV in the middle of the Plass and already an angry official looking man was stomping his way towards them.

"Get in before we get given another fine and a very long lecture by Mr Grumpy over there," he called irritably.

Jack opened the door and unceremoniously threw Owen out of the driver's seat. He glanced briefly at Martha, sat in the front passenger seat. She had a hand covering her eyes and looked faintly queasy.

"I think the poor tourists might have more of a chance if I'm driving."

Martha snorted derisively.

Grumbling under his breath, Owen ran towards the back door and scrambled in after Tosh, nearly sitting on her lap as he inadvertently kicked the door shut with his foot. She moved away, nearly squashing Alex against the other door. He groaned as he came round and his head collided with a hard object once more.

A few club-goers paused in quiet amusement as the old man drew closer to the black SUV.

"Jack!"

He slammed his foot onto the accelerator and performed a great sweeping of the Plass. The few late night pedestrians scattered like pigeons as they registered the monstrous car heading straight for them.

"BLOODY TORCHWOOD!" bellowed the man as they passed him again.

"Real smooth Owen!" muttered Toshiko sarcastically once she'd regained her balance and dignity.

Jack's driving at the best of times wasn't the perfect chauffeur driven ride that the girls (and on occasion, Owen) wished it were. They screeched down the streets of Cardiff, not bothering with petty things like pedestrian crossings or traffic lights.

He sped down a residential street at sixty miles per hour. "Jack! Where are you going? It's that way!"

"I know a shortcut. Trust me."

"But this is an estate Jack Harkness! There are children around!" Martha protested as they mounted the pavement on two wheels.

"For god's sake," grumbled Owen, "I have said it before and I will say it again." He leant forward so he was speaking directly – and slowly, like to a child – to Martha. "IF there are kids around at midnight, they've got it coming!"

Martha blushed and looked at the clock. "Not midnight yet."

Alex groaned again as he regained full consciousness. He was moving, at speed and - when he craned his neck around – realised exactly who he was with.

He'd held a gun to the woman's head who was sitting next to him but she was looking straight at him, completely calm. In actual fact, she was staring blankly out of the window, unaware of Alex.

"Where are we going?"

Toshiko's head jerked around.

"I really think that you, my friend, would serve well to shut your mouth?" Jack sounded murderous.

"Answer my question."

He didn't, refusing to say anymore. The car fell silent until Alex persevered.

"Why don't you have me tied up in your basement?"

Silence.

"Why don't you have me tied up in your car?"

Silence still from the four adults.

"I shot you."

That got a reaction.

Jack turned around slowly in his seat and fixed his eyes directly on Alex. "You killed me. You killed my friend." Alex squirmed under his glare and at once realised that there were four adults in the car, instead of the expected five. He was grateful when Jack dropped his gaze to return to watching the road.

_Shit._

Jack's voice continued and he let it wash over him. He had killed a man; in cold blood, he had shot and murdered a defenceless man.

"If I had my way, you would be locked up in our basements because you murdered us both. But I came back so I guess you're lucky. If you kill someone why not kill someone who comes back to life. But you didn't know that then. You killed me and Rhys and it doesn't matter if you're a kid or not."

"Jack…" warned Owen, somewhere in the car. It sounded distant as Jack's voice bored into him, hitting exactly on the sore points. The captain sent Owen a look and then glared at Alex again. His knuckles were white on the wheel.

"The only reason that you're with us now is because we are going to save Gwen and you might be useful. I don't know whether you realise or not now but we save people. We save the human race from aliens and time and themselves sometimes. You killed someone who helps to protect the very country that you work for. Ironic, no?"

"JACK!" screamed Martha suddenly. She lunged for the wheel.

The car swerved sharply as Jack fought to regain control of the car as the headlights of the lorry that they'd been inches from hitting blared past them to the right.

"Mmmbitch," muttered Martha angrily as she slumped in her seat.

Toshiko suddenly stifled a sob. She had one hand pressed over her mouth and her entire body was shaking with the effort of not crying.

"Tosh…" Owen muttered reassuringly.

The tears split from her wide eyes and Owen pulled her gently into a protective embrace. Martha and Jack kept their eyes resolutely on the road ahead but Alex watched silently out of the corner of his eye.

"It wasn't your fault Tosh. There was nothing you could have done."

Owen shot a filthy glare at Alex as he tried to console Toshiko and Alex realised with a jolt what she was so upset about.

He struggled to find the right words and the courage to speak them but eventually he managed to choke out a sentence. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to … I was just trying to help … All I want is to be a normal kid."

To his great surprise, Toshiko swallowed down the last of her tears thickly and placed an arm around Alex's shoulder.

The rest of the journey was spent in silence, aside from the constant screeching of tyres and squealing of brakes as they went round corners on two wheels.

.....

"Well this is …"

"Creepy."

"I was thinking more along the lines of nice," Jack deadpanned.

Owen had it right though. The wood, which all of them had passed many times, looked pretty and idyllic in the light but now it looked … creepy. It seemed to stretch out into the darkness for … ever, if Alex could believe that there was such a thing as never-ending. But he couldn't – everything good and everything bad had to end at some point, be it through death or sheer good fortune – so logic told him it was only miles.

"Okay Team. We're going to split up. Owen and Martha go east. I'll go west. Tosh … stay in the SUV with Alex … please." Both Toshiko and Alex opened their mouths to protest.

"I can help with …"

"Why do you insist on …"

"Shut it. There is no way that he is coming with us. If we get him killed, MI6 will want our heads as well as 5. And out of us all, I think that you," he addressed Tosh, "are least likely to kill him ourselves out of the lot of us."

Toshiko sighed heavily, but retrieved her rift monitor from the back seat without another word. "There's no rift energy or anything remotely out of the ordinary but this is definitely where Bilis took her."

When she looked up again, Jack and Alex were having a staring competition over her head. If looks could kill, Alex would have killed Jack a few more times, and Alex would be lying spread-eagled on the floor too.

"It's the best shot we've got at finding her," Martha said.

"I'll see you later," Martha and Owen called as they disappeared into the trees, armed with their guns and a torch.

"Look after yourself," muttered Jack in Toshiko's ear as he too passed.

Alex and Toshiko were left standing alone by the side of the empty road and the dark wood. The trees seemed to creep in on them and the pair turned simultaneously to clamber back into the SUV. As soon as Alex had jumped into the back, Toshiko locked the doors and spun the car around so that the headlights were illuminating the trees closest to them.

They sat in silence for a minute, anxious for some contact from the others.

"Why can't we contact them?" Alex wondered.

"Because if they find something they'll radio in. If we just randomly contact them for a little chit-chat they could have been, say, stalking Bilis and us talking to them could screw it up. But if we find energy trace which could help, then we radio them. Okay?"

"Crystal."

The silence stretched once again. The wind blew an eerie tune against the side of the vehicle but the road and the trees remained silent.

"Jack doesn't mean it, you know." Toshiko turned to face Alex openly, her wide brown eyes reflecting the blue light of the interior. "He's angry now but with himself more than anyone. You'd think that he'd have retired really because he blames himself for the deaths of everyone that he recruits. When Ianto died, just after Gwen left, that was the worst I've ever seen Jack but this … I don't know Alex, I think it's going to destroy him." Tosh swallowed thickly. "He's watched so many people die; one day he might hold mine or Owen's or Martha's body as we bleed to death and then he'll have to shut us away in the mortuary because that's regulation. And he'll box away all our stuff and put it into a garage where it'll stay until it rots away."

There was a long hush, which Alex broke by tentatively asking, "What's wrong with him?"

Toshiko laughed hollowly. "You're a clever … young man Alex," she deadpanned, remembering his aversion to being called a child. "He can't die. That might seem like such a gift to start but then you realise that everything around you is going to die. And you won't."

"How?" Alex breathed.

"I don't know."

"And there really are … aliens?"

"Really. There's so many worlds out there but sometimes I think that all we get is the rubbish; the weevils, the Bilis', the – as an old colleague of mine said before she shot herself – the shit."

"Bilis isn't human?"

Toshiko didn't say anything for a few moments. "What do you think?" she replied finally.

Alex had long fallen asleep and Toshiko was fighting to keep her tiredness at bay. She yawned profusely and was glad to hear Owen's voice echoing in her ear, even though he did sound so peeved.

"Two bloody hours we have been out here Tosh and I'm freezing my arse off. There's nothing. No trails or traces. There's shit all. At least you get to sit in the warm cosy van with your new friend. Next time I'm going to be nice to the murderer."

"He's not a murderer Owen. If he was he would have pulled the trigger on me too. He's just a kid, no matter how much he hates being called one."

"Yeah well …"

Alex stirred in the back, moaning quietly as he stretched out his aching neck. "What is that noise?" he muttered, with his face pressed into the seat.

"What?" Toshiko questioned at his muffled tone.

"Sshhh." Alex muttered.

They kept quiet, listening intently. The scratching circled the SUV slowly, louder and louder until it was a crescendo of noise positioned by the front left wheel.

"It's just an animal," Toshiko said, although her head to screaming that nice, peaceful animals didn't do that.

"Owen?" Alex took the initiative and radioed back to Owen. "There's something at the SUV."

"Tosh? You okay?" Alex felt a sharp pang at the amount of concern in his voice and wished that someone, some family, would do that for him.

The noise stopped suddenly and Alex and Toshiko exchanged apprehensive glances.

"What …"

Toshiko screamed as, seemly from out of nowhere, a heavy object was thrown bodily onto the bonnet of the SUV. A tiny bloodstain smeared the windscreen and the object came to a halt lying with its front pressed against the window.

Gwen seemed to be in shock as she stared, with empty eyes, into the SUV. Alex stifled a yell as Bilis appeared behind her. He looked straight into the car too, meeting Toshiko's terrified eyes. He grabbed Gwen at the precise same moment as Toshiko threw open the door. By the time her foot touched the ground, she had gone.

Screams.

The woods were echoing with them. They bounced off trees and burnt the ears of the shaken Toshiko and Alex. There was something inhuman about it and Toshiko returned to the SUV and leapt into the back, pressing buttons on the screens dotted about before Alex could realise what had happened.

Torchwood was proving to be something of a whirlwind job.

"TOSHIKO!" Jack made them all jump. "WHERE IS SHE?"

"TOSH? TOSH, BABE? ARE YOU OKAY?"

"IS THAT GWEN? TOSH, IS THAT GWEN?"

Only Alex stood quiet as the three Torchwood members bellowed into Toshiko's ear.

"QUIET!" She bawled, just to shut everyone up. "She was here, at the SUV but Bilis took her again."

"So where is she now?" Jack demanded.

"There is NO energy, Jack. I can't tell you what the machines AREN'T picking up! I don't know."

Jack swore. "I'll use my ears then." They could hear him running as the unearthly shrieks continued. Owen and Martha continued more slowly, probing each bush, every tree with their guns to make sure that they didn't miss anything important.

"She's up ahead!" Jack panted after about thirty seconds as he continued sprinting towards the source of the noise. "Owen, Martha!" He could hear them haring through the hedgerow too now, beating at protruding branches with their hands or their heads, whichever hit them first.

"This isn't right." Toshiko muttered as she rechecked the data she was receiving. "There's no energy pattern. Nothing; it's like … it's being dampened. We knew Bilis had taken her here because he let us but now … IT'S A TRAP!" The entire team jumped as Toshiko bellowed desperately to Jack. "JACK! IF YOU GO IN THERE WE LOSE YOU! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT HARKNESS. HE'S BLOCKING THE ENERGY! JACK!"

"We either lose me or Gwen, Toshiko."

"JACK!" Owen yelled.

Four miles deep in the wood, Jack stepped forward in a small clearing. There was no light but as his eyes adjusted to the darkness he could just make out a figure bent over something on the ground that was wriggling and squirming desperately.

Bilis stood up slowly and turned to face Jack, waving a long thin samurai sword, which was glistening dark and dripping.

The screams stopped; they turned into shallow whimpers.

Toshiko and Alex, Owen and Martha looked at their partner.

"Jack?" Martha persisted in her earpiece, despite knowing that it was a futile attempt. "Jack?" She tapped her earpiece frantically but only succeeded in creating a painful piece of static for her team mates to suffer from. Owen gently reached up and stilled her hand.

The silence was worse than the screams.

"Glad you could finally make it … Captain," Bilis sneered.

Jack didn't remove his eyes from the moaning Gwen. "I would say it's good to see you …"

Bilis laughed humourlessly and, with unprecedented speed, dropped the sword. It fell to the muddy floor with a thud and Gwen's head snapped up. Her wide eyes took in the old fashioned revolver Bilis was holding before travelling to its target.

Their eyes met.

"JACK!" Gwen screamed.

Bilis pulled the trigger.

* * *

_Well my friends, there is now only (for certain this time) two chapters left now. And reviews make me write those two chapters quicker ;P  
Thank you for the reviews for the previous chapter._

_It was the strangest thing yesterday because I borrowed 'The Twilight Streets' from the library. In it, Bilis comes back for revenge and he says at one point 'And you, Gwen Elisabeth Cooper, you are the bait.' Deja vu, or what? And one last thing, this is my first post since Children of Earth (I think) and I can not believe they killed Ianto. Toshiko was my favourite, then Owen, then Ianto, then Myfanwy ('cos dinosaurs are cool) and THEY'RE ALL DEAD! Grrr :( So I'm thinking of writing a team fic, with Everyone in :) Therapy._

_R&R s'il vous plait._


	12. The End of Days

_A little later than first promised but here it is nevertheless. The good news is I have my new laptop (YAY) and it rocks! The bad news is my old laptop is well and truly dead.  
I think that this version is better than my first draft though, shorter maybe, but I like it. Enjoy ..._

**

* * *

****CHAPTER ELEVEN **

With a gasp that flipped Gwen's terrified stomach, Jack's chest began to rise and fall in a steady rhythm once again. He'd been out of over twenty minutes and he'd only been shot twice but maybe, she reasoned, teleportation didn't much help someone who needed to be brought back to life.

"Gwen?" he muttered casting his eyes around franticly.

They were in an empty aviation hangar, with one light illuminating the entrance. Its appearance was deceiving – it looked like it couldn't light up a caravan but in fact, it was shining a large pool of light across half of the grimy floor. They were – almost predictably in the half that was in darkness.

He whispered Gwen's name again. The diminutive sound was somehow magnified so that it echoed off of the metal walls.

"I'm here," came the small reply from directly behind him. He struggled to move around so he could see her but felt a painful tugging on his wrists and a warm liquid trickle down his arms. "Don't move! He's gone God knows where but he could be back any minute now. He's got you tied with barbed wire to a column and it won't shift." Jack struggled again but only succeeded in making the cuts deeper. "Jack!"

"Some reunion," he ventured to say out loud once he'd gathered some of his courage and managed to still the sickening butterflies in his stomach that somehow, even when they were faced with a crazed psycho, she still managed to evoke in him.

She didn't reply and he thought that maybe he was completely mistaken about everything; maybe she didn't like him or maybe she had, but he'd missed his chance. But then, after a bit of rustling, her fingertips were entwined with the very tips of his.

"Why can you move?" he demanded, doing the best that he could be touching more than just her fingertips.

"Do you have to ruin the moment?!" There a smile in her voice and he could almost see it – her beautiful smile that lit up her face.

"Sorry."

"He's only got me tied up with rope."

"So can you get free?"

"They're so tight I think my hands are going to fall off."

"Your fingers do feel cold."

"Thanks!" He could almost feel that smile again.

It felt so wrong but, clichéd as it was, so right; Bilis could come back at any time but here they were making small talk after not seeing each other for other a decade. His brain was commanding him to stop but his heart was cherishing the conversation. But then his heart, he swore on it, stopped for a second as he considered - if she didn't get out …

They shifted minimally as Jack struggled again, more desperately this time.

"Jack?" Gwen probed quietly. She'd never been stupid; people skills had always been her strong point and knowing Jack as she did, she was pretty sure, even when she could only just see his shoulder that something was wrong. "They don't know we're here, do they?"

"I'm sorry Gwen. I'm so sorry. He's blocked the comms."

There was a short pause. "But if you knew that … why come and … find me?"

"It was either you or me. Backfired in the end though," he laughed anxiously. "On the count of three then yell, okay."

"I've already tried," she informed him wearily. "I would have kicked him in the balls when he tied us up but I feel like shit, truth be told."

He could feel Gwen's shaking as he touched her hands again, his fingers touched her palm this time as the wire cut more into the pale skin of the inside of his wrist.

"How's the gang then?" Gwen asked after his fingers had stopped drawing comforting patterns on her hand.

"By the gang you mean …"

"Tosh, Owen. If the looks that he was giving Alex earlier were anything to go be, he's still harbouring that secret love? And Martha. That was Martha right, only she's changed a lot. Ianto, where was Ianto? And … Rhys. Tell me about Rhys. Because I can't help feeling that he wouldn't be dead if it wasn't for me." She ended almost inaudibly, swallowing thickly.

"How did you work that out?" Jack's reply came out far more sharply than he'd intended.

She ignored his tone completely, for which he was thankful. "If I hadn't been such a coward and ran away then I would have been the one in Torchwood, not him. IT was because of me that he was recruited."

"But I was the one that recruited him. I could have just slipped him some retcon but you know why I recruited him? Because it was easier that way. The human race always opts for the easy option out and I'm just turning into one of the herd. Maybe I've been living on this planet for too long."

"Don't you dare Jack. Don't you bloody dare," Gwen snapped sharply, breaking his sad tirade.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Don't you bloody dare get all … bloody sad and weepy and bloody self-pitying thinking that it was your fault, all of it. Some of it was. But don't you dare think yourself so important that you caused all of this."

"You asked about him!"

"About him! Not the infamous Captain Jack Harkness."

Jack considered for a moment then wriggled slowly in his bindings, careful to avoid touching the sensitive exposed flesh that had already been ripped to strips. It was a futile effort and a sharp hiss of pain made Gwen start behind him.

"I'm sorry Jack."

He laughed shortly. "For what?"

"I think you already know." She hung her head, glad of the knowledge that he couldn't see the tears dripping off her nose, like the blood dripping off his wrists. "I'm sorry for leaving and I'm sorry for thinking that you wouldn't come back and I'm sorry for not telling you and I'm sorry for … everything, Jack." He was listening intently to her every breath and was glad that he couldn't see his stinging eyes that were betraying far more than he was overly comfortable with. "I dunno, Jack. I'm sorry for thinking that you could have set those explosions and for not breaking through the retcon quicker and for thinking that you'd got more wrinkles when I finally remembered."

"You what?!" Jack's head whipped up almost comically.

"I'm sorry Jack," Gwen whispered softly.

"How touching." The voice made the hairs on the back of their necks stand up. "A sweet little reunion."

He was stood inside the large doors of the hangar. They'd been slid open just enough to although the thin figure to slide through but he was shutting them again now, with inhuman strength. He was holding the long samurai sword in one hand and a shorter, yet deadly looking kitchen knife in the other. It was cruel comparison; the sheer brutality of the knife looked like a toy next to the elegant, bloodstained and, Jack strongly suspected, authentic sword.

However as he stalked closer to them, it was the sword that he dropped onto the concrete floor. Shockingly it shattered into small pieces and a shard of the fragile blade skidded to a halt next to Jack. It was a ruby red colour, instead of shiny silver and Jack remembered the long cuts down Gwen's thigh.

Bilis too looked at it, stopping close to Jack's legs.

"Good evening Captain."

...

"It's stopped," Toshiko suddenly informed them all.

"What's stopped?" snapped Martha.

"The block. He's gone, he must have."

Even as Owen and Martha continued to make their careful way towards the ex-source of the commotion, they felt some of the tense atmosphere drain away into the dark abyss of the trees. Owen drew his coat around him and closed his eyes briefly. They weren't in any immediate danger; although Jack and Gwen might be, neither he nor Martha, or Alex and Toshiko, could quench the feeling of relief.

"What if it's another trap?" Alex muttered in Tosh's ear. She jerked around to look at him, despairing. Maybe that was what he'd been trained to do – see the worst possible scenario – but he could at least allow them their moment to think that it was half-alright.

"No, no. If it's a trap then he's taken Jack somewhere, blocked the signal there and then come back because I can trace residual energy but not Jack's comm."

"Where is it, Toshiko? Can you lead us to it?" Martha called down the comms. "Prick here ... sorry, Owen ... thinks it the opposite direction to the way we're going now."

Toshiko's fingers flew swiftly over the keyboard. "Keep going straight Martha."

"Fuck off and just move!" Owen replied to the laughter of both females.

...

Jack writhed against the post, managing only to make the incisions in his lower arms deeper still.

"Maybe I'll just sit here and watch you bleed yourself out," Bilis sneered, bending down patronisingly. He slowly wiped the knife down Jack's cheek. It sliced through the first layer of skin, mixing fresh blood with the smear left by the blade.

Jack suddenly jerked forward, bringing his head into contact with Bilis' nose. It broke with a satisfying crunch but behind him, Gwen let out a whimper as she wondered exactly what going on. Blood spurted out from the contorted feature, splashing Jack's battered face, making a bitter cocktail of the two men's blood.

"You ... bastard," growled Bilis.

It was the first time that Jack had heard him swear and it filled with an odd sense of pride that he could infuriate Bilis so much. The reaction was dulled somewhat when Bilis snatched the short knife back up off the floor and marched round to face opposite Gwen.

He allowed her to take in his nose and then caressed her bloody stomach gently with the blade.

She laughed defiantly. "The only bastard around here is you!"

He laughed too and she stopped abruptly at the sight of his twisted face. "That as it may be, just remember that it was your darling Jackie who made me do this."

He pulled back his arm and sliced through the tender flesh.

...

"Is there anything there?"

Owen stood up again, before his knees got stiff bending in the frigid air.

"No." His one syllabic answer sent shivers down Toshiko's spine.

"Owen ..."

"There's blood everywhere Tosh, but there's no sign of anyone. They've long gone."

"Then we've got no way of tracking them either." Martha silently stood behind Owen and together they stared at the crimson puddle illuminated by their flashlights.

The four fell into an uncomfortable silence which Alex suddenly broke. "Wait! I don't know if she'll be wearing it or not but there is something!"

"Care to share it with us then?" Owen wasted no time in being grumpy to Alex.

"We've got trackers."

"He'll have blocked them you prat." Owen wasted no time in shooting down the idea. Alex ignored him.

"What do your trackers and comms run on?"

"They're tied in with the rift so we'd – hypothetically – be able to still talk even if …"

"Tosh!" Martha cut in.

"Well whatever that meant, ours are run by body heat, which should prove a lot harder to block, right?" Alex was running his fingers through his hair as he thought, hard.

"Right. The only probable reason that he can block our stuff is because he's linked with the rift."

"Can you activate it or is it already working?" Owen was suddenly a lot more receptive to Alex as he realised that the kid (and he was going to keep calling him that, whether he liked it or not) could actually save Gwen and Jack.

"Actually …" Alex shifted in his seat, "It's at the apartment. We had a little argument about you lot and I took it off. I didn't want her following me because … well, I was following her."

"Were you not partners?" Martha questioned, panting once again as her and Owen made their way back to the car.

"Well … we were. But I'm 6 and she was RIS."

"Is RIS." Toshiko muttered quietly without looking up from her PDA.

"Pardon?"

"Don't use the past tense. She's not dead." Alex looked straight at Toshiko but she kept her eyes determinedly averted. "Jack wouldn't let Bilis do that."

"Guys. Left or right?" Owen barked.

"Right."

The pair outside set off running again. "You know, I'm arsed if you think I'm doing anymore field work for the next month after this."

"Oh, shut up Owen. We all know perfectly well that you moan even more if Jack even threatens you with weevil duty so don't waste your breath," Toshiko snapped uncharacteristically.

"Anyway ... Alex … you, Gwen, RIS, MI6?" Martha interrupted, halting any further bickering on the parts of Toshiko and Owen.

"Yeah. Um … we share intel if we really have to but this is rare, us working together. We do it with the Americans more often but Russia is more of a solitary service, from my experience with them anyway."

"How many years have you been working for them?"

"Just the one."

"How many missions though?"

Alex's voice was steely. "Enough. I got recruited after my Uncle died. He was part of it and my Dad."

"Mum?"

"Scorpia don't show any mercy. She got taken down with Dad, same as I would have been if I hadn't got lucky."

"I'm sorry," both Martha and Toshiko consoled.

"I never knew them. But my Uncle lied to me all my life. He was secretly training me up although I don't think he meant for it to be quite so soon." Alex shook his head. "Anyway, you lot and Gwen had a history and there was a photo of you," he nodded at Toshiko, "and you, Owen, and Jack and her and some other bloke."

"Ianto," Owen supplied. "It would have been Ianto."

"I got suspicious. So we had an argument and I legged it. Figured that I'd hang around, see what she did and if it was anything that could have compromised me I was on the first train back to London."

Owen let out a long, low whistle as he banged on the door of the SUV. Toshiko and Alex both jumped as they spotted Owen's boyish face grinning in through the window.

"Bastard," Alex muttered as Owen's laughter followed him into the car. Martha plonked herself back into the passenger seat, Owen once again taking the wheel.

"Pray for your lives," Martha muttered to the two in the back, watching Owen stamp his foot on the accelerator.

For what felt like the hundredth time that evening Jack regained consciousness with a gasp and a jerk.

...

Bilis was still knelt in front of him, pressing his ugly knife against Jack's eye. It stung sharply as Jack twisted involuntarily as an after-shock of his near-death experience.

"Well, I was going to go for the forehead but if you'd rather it was the eye …"

Jack squeezed his lids shut and let out an unearthly shriek as his vision was suddenly filled with hot blood and a never-ending pain.

...

Alex jumped out of the SUV whilst it was still moving, which was quite a feat considering that it was Owen driving and he didn't seem to know that you could go under forty miles per hour.

Martha followed him into the apartment block.

"Just in case," Owen hissed at her, as he shoved her out of the door.

Just under three minutes later, they were back, Alex clutching something tightly in his hand. Martha was holding a small PDA.

"Activate it," Owen ordered the moment that the door was opened again.

"I have!" Alex shot Owen a filthy look.

Alex climbed into the front this time and sat waiting, tapping the screen. Martha sidled in next to Toshiko and leant forward.

"What are you waiting for?!" Owen's patience was running out.

"I can only go as fast as the software letting me!"

"Crappy Spooks," Owen cursed. "You know, I reckon that they only recruit people who can work alongside the software. Shit tech, shit spies. Certainly would explain why this country is going to crap." He revved the engine impatiently.

"Just be thankful that Evie and Yasmin aren't boys. They wouldn't stop arguing, I bet." Martha whispered in Toshiko's ear. They smiled to themselves, looking out of the windows to stop the giggles from developing. The number of times that they just spent hours taking the mickey out of Owen was quite unbelievable.

"And can you imagine what it would be like if he learned to drive? If Owen gave him private lessons?!" Toshiko laughed.

"Shut it," snapped Owen, watching them in the rear view mirror, used to the secret laughing but still not liking it.

"Nearly online," Alex informed them.

"About bloody time."

"Yes! There's a signal at least, out on the outskirts."

"We're going to run out of petrol soon!" Owen groaned.

Martha rolled her eyes. "Do you have to find fault in everything?"

Owen had already pulled away, somehow managing to achieve 0-50 in about 3 seconds, although the SUV was only supposed to be able to do 0-35. Martha was thrown back into the seat by the jerky movement.

"Sorry," Owen laughed, glad to get his revenge so quickly for the secret taunting. Toshiko slapped his forearm and the car jerked again.

"Watch it!"

"Somewhere in Somerset, I believe," Toshiko retorted.

"Near Blue Anchor?" Owen replied, rolling the words into one.

"Yeah, you are aren't you?" Toshiko finished.

Alex looked at the PDA which Martha had passed and looked around at the dashboard.

"It's behind the sat nav," supplied Martha, guessing correctly what he was looking for. After he quickly fumbled around the leads, Alex found an open port and plugged the PDA into the cars satellite navigation.

"Her name's Sasha." Alex looked at Owen with a smile that half suggested that he was debating his closest escape route and half planning to ring the men in white coats. "What?" Owen said defensively as he caught Alex's gaze. "The name came with it!"

The sat nav jumped into life with a smart "Hello" and the map of their location appeared. "Take the next left turning," she directed. Owen swung the car round the corner, brushing the hedge that lined the edge of the road. "This is a forty mile per hour zone." The speedometer read seventy. "Owen!" exclaimed Sasha. "Forty miles per hour! There could be …"

"Children around!" chorused Toshiko and Martha from the back, drowning out the chastising sat nav. The girls collapsed into laughter whilst Alex looked from Owen to the sat nav to the shaking women in the back seat.

He had to ask: "How did it, sorry, she do that? I just turned it on."

"Ask Smart-Arse back there."

Toshiko controlled her laughter, determinedly not looking at Martha, who was still shaking slightly. "It's new. One week."

"She spent the entire day in the garage!" interjected Owen.

"I connected the sat nav to the driver's seat and the global positioning satellite that UNIT has."

Owen interrupted once again. "They might think we don't know that they're tracking us but it set alarms off that wouldn't shut up for thirty minutes. I think we noticed."

"In 100 yards, take the next left."

"Anyway," Toshiko said, directing a glare at Owen, "I installed a simple weight system in the seat and it can also tell how far back or forward the seat is, measured in mm, so it can work out who is sat there. Then Martha and I programmed it with various witty remarks about everyone's driving."

"Hilarious," remarked Owen drily. But Alex was smiling alongside Martha and Toshiko.

...

"Why are you doing this?" demanded Jack once he'd opened his eyes to clear vision.

"Why?" Bilis laughed. "I would have thought that much would be obvious." He reached forward to grab Jack's shoulder. "I could show you if you want."

Jack flinched involuntarily as the cold hands gripped his shoulder. Behind him, he could feel Gwen struggling and silently willed her to stop, knowing that if Bilis was busy taunting him, he would leave Gwen alone.

"Just telling me would be fine."

Without warning, Bilis sharply twisted Jack's shoulder. Jack felt the bones grind against each other and then his right arm was limp and useless, except to carry the pain he was suffering along it. Somehow, he contained his shriek, unwilling to let Gwen know what he'd done.

"Think on that whilst I tell you," Bilis snarled into his ear. As he withdrew his hand, he purposely pushed his fingers into Jack's tender flesh, provoking a sharp intake of breath. "You killed him." His face contorted uncontrollably.

"Sorry, who?" Jack taunted, glad of the chance to give as good as he was giving, besides the torture part.

It worked. "You know who!" thundered Bilis. "My Master. The mighty Abaddon. You ruined my plan and as he knew that he'd been tricked, he made me feel his pain." Bilis lunged at Jack's shoulder, ramming it hard. This time Jack cried out, unready for the pain.

"Jack?!" cried Gwen desperately.

Bilis began to prowl around the pillar, circling him and Gwen like they were his prey. "And just when I thought I was going to die too, my Master passed back into the Darkness. But I swore for revenge. You shall never know pain like it. You think this –" he delivered a sharp kick to Jack's forearm, "- is pain? You cannot imagine. And it was your doing! Captain Jack Harkness, the hero, the savior of planet Earth. But what about the things that come through? The innocent?"

"Abaddon was NOT innocent!" exclaimed Gwen. "And neither are you!"

To Jack's horror, Bilis stopped in front of Gwen. She looked up at him with wide eyes, full of fear, however much she tried to hide it. She'd been tortured before. Bloody hell, she'd nearly died but somehow … this was worse. Maybe it was because all she could hear were Jack's screams and Bilis' maniacal laughter or maybe it was simply because it was Jack. Whatever it was, she wholeheartedly wished she done things different in the past, obliterated the chance that she was here, in this dingy hangar.

"Do you know something Jack?" Bilis inquired lightly.

"I know lots of things and most of them are derogatory in some way to you," Jack snapped through gritted teeth.

"You always seem to pick the, how do I put this," Bilis paused, "the weak ones." And before Jack could scream 'no' Bilis lunged at Gwen. She fought back and screamed as the knife flashed and this time it was she who felt the warm gush of blood on her hands and she realised that Bilis had sliced through the rope holding her, cutting her as he did so.

"You bastard!" She screamed, lunging at him in return. He dodged easily and lashed out at her as she collapsed to the floor, weakened by the imprisonment and injuries that he had inflicted. She continued to scream obscenities at him from the floor, struggling to rise and each time being thrown back down by a well-aimed kick. Eventually she stopped trying to rise fully, just inched slowly (but not slowly enough) towards the knife lying on the floor.

He got there first. "I don't think so, my dear Gwen." He picked it up. Her eyes were burning with an all-consuming hatred for him; he looked back at her unperturbed, and when she dropped her eyes, felt that he had, once again, triumphed over the weak, unimportant girl.

A sudden movement caught his eye and he whirled around, not fast enough, as, with the element of surprise, Gwen plunged a shard of the shattered sword into his left cheek. Bilis howled like an animal, clutched one hand to his cheek to stem the blood coursing down his face and with an unnatural grace, released the knife from his hand.

It hit its intended target, who was, to begin with, at a loss as to what had hit the back of his neck. Then came the pain, white hot and blinding. He tried to move his hands, to uselessly clutch his neck, but it would not obey.

"No," Gwen whispered. She saw the knife protruding from Jack's neck, like the sick intrusion that it was. "No!" She repeated. This had been her fault. She should have aimed for the jugular.

Bilis knelt to the floor with an athleticism that people half his age wouldn't have been able to manage and, once more betraying the strength that his frail arms disguised hauled Gwen to her feet. She was half dragged to face Jack.

He looked into her eyes as he died, the blue fading a shade or two as the life flickered away.

"That was your fault," Bilis whispered malevolently into her ear. She shook her head desperately, ignoring the pain that shot through her. He pulled her close to his body, so close that she could feel his breath in her hair. "Quiet now, my precious, I need you to be nice and still for me."

Everything went black.

...

"Well?" Owen repeated for the hundredth time, the SUV stopped in the middle of a forked road, blue lights illuminating the hedges which had been flashing past minutes ago.

The PDA had gone dead quarter of an hour ago and without it, the sat nav had lost the route.

"Well?" He pressed again.

Beside him, Alex fiddled with the small device, unsuccessfully.

"Let me have a look," commanded Toshiko. Alex gratefully passed it back to Toshiko who began fiddling with the computer like Alex had been. The difference was that it suddenly buzzed and the screen lit up. "Result," she smiled. She surveyed the information and the smile became fixed and forced, something which Martha and Owen were quick to realise.

"Tosh?" The Torchwood employees asked simultaneously, their brows furrowed.

"Where is she then?" Alex inquired, sounding much more upbeat, still unaware that Owen and Martha were turning slowly to look at him.

"There is no signal," Tosh explained quietly. "Either he's found it--"

"Impossible," remarked Alex.

"—She's very cold right now or …" She looked around at Alex too.

"Or she's not got any body heat anymore," Owen finished, when it became clear Toshiko was unwillingly to say the words. The words blanketed the car with thick dread.

"Maybe she's just unconscious?" Alex sounded optimistic, even if he didn't feel it.

"What?"

"The system can track the changes in body heat when you're not conscious. You're not moving right so you don't produce as much kinetic energy which is transformed into heat energy. The signal was … minimal so … maybe she was tied up but struggling. But now …"

"Yeah, alright, save us the lecture Spy Kid."

A beeping filtered through the speakers of the car as the sat nav burst back into life. Startled, Toshiko stared down at the PDA, which was once again showing a small signal.

"You so better be right about this," Owen growled. "If I find out you're taking us for a joyride and wasting the petrol I will kill you. Understand?"

Alex nodded, his heart leaping as the sat nav restarted its calm instructions.

...

Gwen felt warm … warmer, at least. She slowly opened her eyes, immediately on the defensive, scanning for Bilis. She couldn't see him.

Something shifted against her left arm and she started, aware that she'd been rebound to the pillar. The something groaned and she turned to look at Jack, now tied beside her.

"You look terrible," she told him matter-of-factly, as though she'd come into work one morning to find him with a killer hangover (if he ever drank alcohol) and no sleep to boot.

"Thanks."

It was more comforting with him beside her, his arm now securely wrapped around hers, linking them together. Unfortunately, it didn't do much for her as Bilis appeared in the slither of a gap in the hangar doors. The light was flickering as he walked under it, towards Gwen and Jack. She felt her stomach convulse with uncomfortable palpations of fear.

"Now then," he called across the empty space, his voice echoing back at them, "Down to business, I should think." He stopped before them. "I am not a fool Jack Harkness. I know exactly where to hurt you the most and I shall. In a short time, you will be the most wounded than you have ever been and dying isn't going to heal it."

"You'd be surprised what I can take Bilis. Try me."

Bilis laughed, knowing by the half flinch on Gwen's face that she hated the sound. "My Master meant everything to me. I went to the ends of the world – and beyond – for him and I know that you will do exactly the same that Miss Cooper here."

"Jack …" warned Gwen quietly.

"I swore eleven years ago that I would have my revenge on you, Jack Harkness and so I sat and I planned. I waited and I watched. It was harder than it should have been because you," he spat at Gwen, "took the coward's way out. Quite unexpected I may add, as I thought that you were a courageous young woman. You see, even being around for as long as I, one can never judge a character completely."

"I don't know about that." Gwen spoke defiantly. "I can judge your character pretty completely."

Bilis laughed again, waiting for the reaction. "So I had to think harder. You remember young Ianto?"

"Don't you dare besmirch his name," snarled Jack.

"I do. I remember the look on his face as he died. Those wide eyes and that poor, helpless face. You thought it was a weevil, didn't you, Jack? You shot the one you kept in the vaults because you thought that it did it. You were wrong," Bilis breathed.

"No …" Jack snapped aggressively. He remembered the stench of blood as he'd walked down to the vaults, dreading the next step after Toshiko's terrified scream had greeted him when she'd followed him down after he'd spent over an hour down there.

"It was Toshiko that found him, wasn't it? The sweet, loyal Japanese girl. At least, that's you think she is. If you get out of here Jack, you ask her why she never told you about me being down there. Why she stood by and watched you shoot the weevil in the forehead and then kick it until it was as mangled as Ianto. When she saw me do it. Oh, Jack, just out of curiosity, what did she do after you'd all calmed down. What did she do?"

Jack took a deep steadying breath, feeling obliged speak, feeling that it might quench the terrible fury brewing inside him as he looked at Bilis. "She went to Owen. Neither of them came into work for a week after, not until that Hoix convention in Newport forced them to. What did you do?"

"I told her, in perfect detail, how I was going to kill her babies, then Owen, in front of her powerless eyes, if she breathed a word."

Gwen shook fiercely and the loathing that she had been about to extend to Toshiko died down as she considered what Bilis had threatened her with. "You're sick!" she exclaimed.

"But, when I thought you were going to destroy yourself with grief, you picked yourself up."

Jack interrupted. "Toshiko was pregnant. She seemed so terrified when she broke the news and I thought that it was because of how I was acting. So I pulled myself together for her. My brave Toshiko, only then she wasn't 'mine' anymore, she was 'Owen's' and he complained when I called her that."

"So I returned to the drawing board." He turned his head slowly to look at Gwen. She and Jack could both see the direction that the conversation was taking and Gwen was suddenly filled with dread.

"You know that contact that Valera had at MI6?" Bilis switched abruptly to Russian. "And you know those two agents that Valera was planning to send out here? Oh, and you know that explosion? One big chain reaction."

"You," Gwen gasped, replying automatically in Russian, "You killed all those people. They were innocent. Truly innocent, not like your twisted idea that you or Abaddon were!" Jack watched the short exchange, recognizing words. He squeezed Gwen's arm. She turned to him, fat tears welling in her eyes. "He manipulated everything Jack. The explosion and Roman and Svetlana! I went to their funerals for Gods sake! I knew that I would have to take over their job but I … I never dreamed that it was because I was going to take over their jobs that I was at their funeral!"

Gwen's beautiful, horrified face was covered in a thin layer of grime and mud from the woods but as Jack watched it began to stream away as tears washed down her cheeks. One dirty teardrop fell off the end of her chin; it splashed down onto the floor and was joined by another … and another as she slowly lost control. She was screaming obscenities at him through her hysteria, struggling against her bonds as she tried to launch herself at him.

"Gwen! Gwen!" Jack consoled, moving as close to her as was possible, wishing that he could put his arms around her and hold her tight. She hiccupped but the tears didn't stop.

"I'm sorry to break up the female hysterics but I'm afraid this is rather important." As Jack looked up the flickering light finally died, plunging the warehouse into darkness. Beside him he felt Gwen tense instinctively and he immediately bent his body as far down as the cuffs would allow him.

"Don't look at me," Bilis' laughing voice echoed out of the darkness. It seemed to be coming at them from all angles. "Not that you can, because it's dark now, but I didn't do anything. It must have realised that its time was nearly up and it preferred to go with some dignity."

A puff of wind tickled the back of Jack's neck and he jerked around, squinting desperately into the gloom. "What the hell are you playing at? My team is working to find you and trust me, they will!"

"And how do you think they're going to know where you are. I blocked your comms. I don't know whether you've guessed yet but I control the rift far better than you. Even if I didn't, they wouldn't have got to you in time. You're on the other side of the world."

"You'd be surprised, Bilis. I only pick the best."

I'm sure you did."

Jack shivered at his use of past tense.

"I digress. I've long since realised Jack that there are fates worse than death. You showed that when you killed my great master Abaddon and left me behind to suffer the consequences."

Gwen and Jack pressed their bodies against one another in a futile attempt at comfort. "I won't let anything happen to you," Jack murmured into her ear.

"How noble of you Jack," said Bilis, "but there are thirteen explosive devices positioned around this building, timed to detonate in two minutes and … thirty-two seconds. If you're going to do it, you might as well do it in style, I suppose. Another of your wise teachings Jack. And it means I won't have to clear up after you."

He sounded completely calm and collected and that was what scared Gwen the most. Toshiko and Owen wouldn't be able to get to them on time and no-one would know what had happened here. Her Mam and Dad; she hadn't seen them for years but they would never know that she was dead.

Suddenly a sharp breeze travelled straight past Gwen's ear.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

...

"There!" screamed Toshiko as a large aviation hangar loomed into sight as they sped along the runway. It sat alone, away from the main complex where the deserted departures and arrivals were situated by the main entrance.

Owen screeched to a halt and the team, including Alex piled out immediately. Martha and Owen pulled their guns and flashlights and Toshiko carried her PDA.

Alex was at the back of the group and a small movement in his peripheral vision stopped him dead. "Hey!" he shouted.

Martha turned back at his shout and followed his gaze to the top of a small hill, on the opposite side of the chain fencing that ran around the aircraft complex. Bilis stared back at her, completely calm and collected.

"Hey!" Martha echoed Alex's shout. "You bastard!" She bellowed and sprinted in the direction of the figure.

Toshiko had turned back at the second shout but Owen continued forward, jogging determinedly towards an open door at the front of the hangar. As he left the SUVs headlights range, he clicked on the torch; it shone a small path of light in front of him.

He entered the hangar as his comm crackled into life. "Bastard disappeared," Martha panted down the connection.

Owen cautiously edged further into the hangar. It was in darkness and his torch didn't go far in the way of lighting it up. His footsteps bounced off the walls.

"Jack?! Gwen?!" he called.

"Owen?" Jack's voice floated back at him, filled with relief. At the sound of it, Owen felt himself relax a little, although still wary that Bilis might come back.

Toshiko still sounded worried as her voice filled his ear. "Owen?"

"It's okay Tosh!" Owen informed her. "They're here! It's alright." He wondered briefly why no-one had followed him into the hangar.

"No, Owen." Martha replied. She was stood behind Toshiko and Alex, who were crouched over a miniscule box which sat by the outside wall. A single length of wire snaked into the darkness on each sides. "Tosh's found explosives. Thirteen of them! You need them out."

Owen's happy sense of relief disappeared immediately. Jack was calling his name again, joined by a welsh voice that he hadn't heard properly for years. He forced his legs to begin sprinting in the direction of the voices even though his brain was telling him to run in the opposite direction, back out of the door.

"Can't you diffuse them?"

"Owen?!"

"I'm trying!"

"Owen?! We're over here!"

"They've got just over one minute."

"Owen!"

He swung in torch wildly in every direction hoping to chance across a head or a pair of feet.

"Owen!"

"Jack!" he exclaimed in both relief and shock as the beam finally shone on Jack and Gwen. He bent down immediately to try and undo the bonds that were tying them but the image of the pair was still burnt into his eyelids – Jack's face and white top was a vivid red and there was even a pool of the stuff at his feet. Gwen was huddled into his side and he had turned his body into her as far as he was physically able to. They both seemed shrunken and desperate, covered in blood and jagged cuts.

"Owen, there are bombs," Jack whispered.

"I know."

He struggled with the ropes holding Gwen first, knowing that if anyone did end up getting blown to pieces, it was him and Gwen who wouldn't come out of it smiling. His hands fumbled with the tight knot that was secured around the tall pillar.

"Thirty seconds!" warned Alex.

He glanced at Jack's bonds and winced at the sight of barded wire embedded into his skin, about three centimeters deep in places.

"Owen! I can't do it!" That was Toshiko, sounding panicked, terrified

"Twenty-five seconds."

"No," he muttered, trying harder to untie the ropes, but only succeeding in making it tighter under the pressure.

He looked up at a touch of something on his leg - Gwen's foot nudged his to get his attention.

"Twenty seconds."

"Owen! Get out of there!" Toshiko cried into his ear.

"Owen. Get out of here." Gwen repeated, sounding much calmer than Toshiko outside.

"No," he muttered and returned to the rope.

Gwen kicked out, driving her heel into his hamstring. "Go!"

"Fifteen seconds."

"Jack," Owen appealed, looking at his boss with wide eyes.

Jack looked back at him with a guarded expression, not breathing a word.

Owen looked from him to Gwen and turned on his heel, sprinting for the exit. His flashlight grew fainter as it moved farther away.

With the light gone, Gwen felt, rather than saw, Jack's head turn towards hers. His fingers threaded back through hers, tenderness forgotten as he gripped her hand tightly and urgently.

"I really do love you, you know," he choked out.

Gwen's only reply was a strangled laugh but she buried her face deeper into his neck.

"Three."

Owen cleared the door and continued running.

"Two."

Toshiko, Martha and Alex were stood on the other side of the SUV. One of them had moved it away and as he appeared, Toshiko tried to run towards him, only to be held back by Martha. Alex was counting down on the PDA. Tears streamed down the girls' faces.

"One."

The hangar lit up the night sky as it blew itself apart. The walls disintegrated as a stunned Martha, Toshiko and Alex watched. They dived down as the blast of the explosion punched through the air, scooping Owen up and sending him flying through the air like a rag doll. The noise was deafening and they pointlessly covered their ears with their hands.

The smell of burning drifting up their nostrils and the crackle of flames was the first acknowledgement that it was over. Alex was the first to rise. Debris had fallen all around them, smashing the windscreen of the SUV. Toshiko slowly pulled herself up using the side of the SUV for support.

"Owen!" she screamed, searching the blazing wreckage for her fiancé. Owen was sprawled ten meters from the SUV and relative safety. His right arm was trapped under a large chunk of what looked like the remains of a metal wall.

They ran forwards together, pulling it off of him. Alex checked for a pulse as Toshiko cradled his head in her lap. Some debris had caught her temple, leaving a small V shaped cut which bled profusely down her cheek, mirroring the path of her tears.

He was numbly aware of sirens already piercing the air.

Martha was the only one to properly survey the carnage. She would be the one who would painstakingly search the ruins later in the morning, once the fires had been put out, Toshiko had gone with Owen to the hospital and Alex rushed back off to London.

But even in the first seconds of sweeping the wreckage with her bare eyes, she was already certain. There was nothing left; there were no twisted remains of walls or a vague shape of a building.

If anything or anyone was inside that building, there was no way on Earth that they would have survived in one piece.

* * *

_Well? Was it okay? Or just plain bad? This was the hardest chapter to write so I'd muchly appreciate your views. It's that little button below. Thank you :)_

_PS I'd really love to see if I can get the reviews in triple figures 'cos I've never had that before! You would make my day so c'mon guys, only (I can't remember the exact number I've got at the moment) about fifteen reviews ... it's not that many! _


End file.
